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Description

  • 331
  • Portrait head of beardless male, possibly a Severan prince
  • early 3rd c. or early 4th c. AD,
  • White marble.
  • Ht. ca 25 cm; w. max, ca 13 cm; head, depth max, ca 16 cm; w. eyes, and distance between eyes, ca 4 cm; ht. face ca.18 cm.
  • Broken across the neck from shortly under the chin to the nape; missing are the far left side of the face, a large portion of the left skull, and the back of the head. Facial features are damaged by multiple breaks. Missing are the nose, most of the lips, and the front of the chin; the right eye and its brow ridge are scarred; and the hair at the right temple damaged; another break cuts the outer corner of the left eye. The surface polish of the face is lost, though surfaces remains smooth where not actually broken. The piece is much weathered, and had a brownish-grey encrustation over all when excavated. Fungal infestations have left tiny pits. A few fresh chips mark the neck and the lower left jowl.
  • This life-sized head from a statue or bust depicts a youthful, heavy-set male. (For identification as a statue, Fentress points out that the leg S7 from the same context might be associated). He is clean-shaven, with close-cropped hair carved as small tufts. At back, where the hair grows down the nape of the neck to a point level with the earlobes, short strands are brushed forwards along the nape from a central parting. At front, the combed-forward locks are trimmed very close to the hairline, though not in a straight line; the bangs curve slightly upward on the left side. Lobe-shaped patches of hair cover the temples; sideburns are shown shaved away. The individual is thick-necked with a fleshy, smooth-skinned face, prominent rounded jowls without a crease between face and jawbones, and the neck, and a large rounded knob at the point of the chin. The short fleshy lips were drilled and shaped at the corners to give the impression of a smile. Overall, the contour of head and face describe a wide oval, whose features do not strongly protrude from the plane of the face. The eyes are wide and well-opened close under the brows, with carefully shaped eyelids and tear ducts, the gaze directed upward and to the right. The iris is carved as a small wide flattened oval overlapped by the upper eyelid, and marked by two tiny, closely set drill holes with a very thin bridge of marble left uncut between them. The eyebrows are marked by a sharp contour without any detailing of hair. The ears are set close to the skull, their cartilage finely modeled.
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  • "To the ‘Young Geta/ Caracalla’ type of 208 AD, Fittschen and Zanker I, 1985 cat. 88, 106-7, pl. 106-7 and Beilage 68 a-d; for the Mellerio head, Pollini 2005, fig. 1 a-e; Varner 2004, 172-6 for the most recent bibliography for Geta’s images; for the Louvre bust from Gabii, most recently Varner 2004, 173 (found with portraits of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna), and for the Louvre's online image, http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=2891&langue=fr. -rn3rd-c. portraits’ eyes, Wood 1986, pl. 14 and 55, pl. 15 and 55-6, pl. 10 and 48. - To a late Roman identification: Chiragan boy, Hannestad 1999, 187 n. 45 and 189 (villa generally, 187-89; Stirling 1995, 49-62); Cazés 1995, Le regard de Rome 1995, 172. – Boston Museum of Fine Arts 89.6, Domitian recut as Constantinian prince, Varner ed, 2000, 172-4, cat 40, fig. at 173; Varner 2004, 124-5, cat 530 fig. 129. - New York prince (Constans?) ‘Head of Constans [Byzantine] (67.107).’ In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/67.107 (October 2006); Varner 2004, 166; L’Orange 1984, pl. 58.a-b. - Berlin Chlorus: L’Orange 1984, pl. 14.a-b, and see pl. 23.a-b., 25.a-b.; Maischberger et al 2006, cat. I, ill. at 22 and 44. - Boston Museum of Fine Art inv. 1977. 656, late Roman `plump’ man, Comstock and Vermeule 1988 cat. 52 at 60, Perseus web, Art and Archaeology at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collections Boston Museum of Fine Art online, with bibliography, http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/portrait-head-of-a-high-official-155276."

Record Details

  • VM_1567
    • Strato di terra marrone scuro tra l SSU 1040 e l SSU 1580
    • Ann Kuttner