CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.

This over-lifesized head of a goddess stylistically recalls a 4th century head in Boston, thought to be from Athens, which C.C. Vermeule and M.B. Comstock describe as depicting Demeter, Hera or Cybele (see Sculpture in Stone, The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, p.36, no. 47). The Boston head shares the aloof, divine facial expression with the present example, as well as a similarly rendered taenia (or fillet) binding wavy locks. Unlike the Boston example, which is veiled and likely meant to have been a cult statue, this head has a lead-filled mortise at the top as well as a dowel hole for attachment at the back, indicating it perhaps came from a pediment. The 4th century B.C. date is relevant to both as both embody the "Praxitelean softness" that came to define sculpture of this period.