CIRCA MID 3RD CENTURY A.D.

The style of this slightly over life-sized head of an old man displays all the characteristics of mid to late 3rd century A.D. portraits of military men: a somewhat cubistic form with chiseled, close-cropped hair and beard, and a deeply-lined forehead. Our subject’s hair recedes at the temples, and the beard extends onto his neck, where thicker curls are deeply drilled. The large eyes are heavy lidded and articulated. The ears seem unfinished, as they are not well detailed nor cut away from the head at their backs. There are pronounced nasolabial folds and a thin-lipped, closed mouth. On the reverse, there is a coarsely-hewn neck support. I. Jucker (op. cit.) suggests a Tetrarchic date with a possible attribution to Maximian (250-310 A.D.), but because of the present state of the preservation of this head, such an attribution does not seem justified. A related, slightly earlier portrait in Princeton displays similar details, and has been dated either to the reign of Philip the Arab (244-249 A.D.) or soon after (see no. 19 in J.M. Padgett, ed., Roman Sculpture in the Art Museum, Princeton University).