Head of a young man
A.D. 160–170, possibly modified about A.D. 220
Medium/TechniqueMarble, probably from Carrara, Italy
DimensionsHeight x width x depth: 36 x 16.5 x 19 cm (14 3/16 x 6 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.)
Credit LineGift of Ariel Herrmann in honor of John J. Herrmann, Jr., Curator of Classical Art, 1976-2004
Accession number2004.2232
On View
On viewClassificationsSculpture
Collections
The ridge atop this head allowed attachment of a separate piece, now lost. This ridge is unusually tall, suggesting it may have supported a large wig of a sort fashionable among Roman women in the late second and early third centuries A.D; alternatively, the missing piece could have been a helmet pushed back above the forehead, as the goddess Minerva (Athena to the Greeks) often wore hers. Either way, the wisps of a beard on both cheeks and above the upper lip suggest the head was subsequently modified to portray a young man.
ProvenanceBy about 1971: with Nicolas Koutoulakis, 3, Chemin de Conches, Geneva, Switzerland; about 1971: purchased by Ariel Herrmann from Nicolas Koutoulakis; gift of Ariel Herrmann to MFA in honor of John J. Herrmann, Jr., Curator of Classical Art, 1976-2004, December 2004
1st–2nd century A.D.
25–1 B.C.
1st or 2nd century A.D.
late 1st century B.C. – 1st century A.D.
Mid–late 1st century A.D.
1st–2nd century A.D.
2nd century A.D. or 19th century
1st–2nd century A.D.
30 B.C.–A.D. 70
late 2nd century A.D., based on Hellenistic Greek work of 2nd century B.C.
