CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

This impressive, over-lifesized head of Jupiter finds an exact parallel with an example in Rome, no. 43 in A. Giuliano, ed., Museo Nazionale Romano: Le Sculture, vol. I, 1. According to C. Cullen Davidson, there are six preserved examples of the type, known as the "Dresden Zeus," to which this head can also be added (see Pheidias: The Sculptures & Ancient Sources, vol. 1, pp. 555-563). The author notes that the type is defined by a “broad and mature” face “made impressive by the great mass of curly hair which covers the head and which merges with a thick, curly beard.” The appearance of the hair is “somewhat disheveled and windswept,” contrasting with the “carefully arranged parting and the combed moustache.”

This head probably originated from a standing figure of the god, clad in a voluminous himation (the statue in Dresden, the name-piece of the type, is considered the most complete, see J. Boardman, Greek Sculpture: The Classical Period, fig. 228). The type is generally considered to be based on a Greek bronze original from circa 430 B.C. by Agorakritos of Zeus Katachthonios or Hades (Cullen Davidson, op. cit., p. 557). For more on the subject, see F. Canciani, “Zeus/Iuppiter,” LIMC, vol. VIII, p. 433.