Marble head of young man
Γ344 (Γ74)
Stone (White marble)
Cut off at neck and worked for setting into a newer base in the 19th century. Back of head broken, scattered chipping to face.
Height: 30 cm. Width: 24 cm. Thickness: 22 cm.
Chersonissos
Roman period:
c. mid-2nd c. AD:
Gallery:
XXVIICase:
Not in caseExhibition thematic unit:
Sculpture. Hellenistic period (3rd-2nd c. BC) Roman period (1st c. BC-3rd c. AD)The art of portraiture
Description
Frontal head of a youthful figure looking up and to the right. The individualised features (wide face, large eyes, wide nose, small mouth with full lips, characteristic hairstyle) show that it comes from an honorary statue of a specific and presumably distinguished person of the time. Interestingly yet curiously, another marble head (ΑΜΗ Γ 711) of similar size and style with only minor differences survives, unfortunately lacking any provenance. This example has been brutally struck in the face, probably deliberately, as a sort of damnatio memoriae. Of course, without epigraphical evidence any attempt at identification is unsound.Bibliography:
L. Mariani, "Some Roman Busts in the Museum of the Syllogos of Candia", American Journal of Archaeology 1, 1897, 274-276. N. Platon, A Guide to the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Athens 1964, 157. Α. Datsouli-Stavridi Α., "Τα ρωμαϊκά πορτραίτα του Μουσείου Ηρακλείου", Πεπραγμένα του Δ΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου, Α2, Agios Nikolaos 1981, 589. I.F. Sanders, Roman Crete. An Archaeological Survey and Gazetteer of Late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete, Warminster 1982, 50. M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos, Die römischen Porträts Kretas. Bezirk Heraklion, CSIR Griechenland, Band VI,1, Athen 2002, 62, Nr. 21 and 22 Taf. 23-24. Μ. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos, "Γλυπτές "εικόνες" από τη Χερσόνησο", in Creta romana e protobizantina: atti del congresso internazionale (Iraklion, 23-30 settembre 2000), Padova 2004, vol. IΙΙ,2, 1074-5, pl. VIII-IX. K. Fittschen – P. Zanker – P. Cain, Katalog der römischen Porträts in der Capitolinischen Museen und den anderen kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom II, Beiträge zur Erschließung hellenistischer und kaiserzeitlicher Skulptur und Architektur 4, Berlin 2010, 133 n. 13 (c1) no. 130 (Fittschen). E. Chioti, Αυτοκρατορικά και ιδιωτικά πορτρέτα της εποχής των Αντωνίνων στην Ελλάδα, Thessaloniki 2012, 318, no. 141, pl. 113.Author:
K. S.Photographs' metadata