A GREEK MARBLE HEAD

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A GREEK MARBLE HEAD
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.
Lifesized, the oval face with heavy-lidded almond-shaped eyes, full fleshy lips and a rounded chin, his cheeks with subtle naso-labial folds, his thick wavy locks falling along the proper right side of the head, the top of the head roughly finished, with a deeply-drilled mortise for attachment of separately-made element, possibly a crown
8 1/8 in. (20.5 cm.) high

Provenance

with Boris Mussienko, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 1980.

Brought to you by

G. Max Bernheimer

mbernheimer@christies.com +1 212 636 2247

Lot Essay

This head recalls a portrait of Alexander the Great at the Getty (see p. 25 in K. Lapatin and K.B. White, eds., The J.Paul Getty Museum, Handbook of the Antiquities Collection). The round, fleshy face and curling leonine locks also recall a bust thought to be the god Eubuleus, found in Eleusis and now in Athens (see no. 555, in N. Kaltsas, Sculpture in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens). It has been hypothesized that this Eubuleus head is also an idealized portrait of Alexander rather than a depiction of the god.

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