HADRIANIC TO ANTONINE PERIOD, CIRCA EARLY TO MID 2ND CENTURY A.D.

The idealized, almost androgynous, beauty of this fine head is typical of the artistic production of the Roman Imperial period for depictions of a number of different deities. While the Hadrianic to Antonine date for this head is confirmed on the basis of the characteristic drillwork defining the locks of hair, the identity of the deity depicted is far from certain. His luxurious long curls are swept up at the forehead in an anastole, a hairstyle first popularized for portraits of Alexander the Great, although clearly here the Macedonian ruler is not the intended subject. Closest in style is a head identified as Helios now in the Museo Gregoriano Profano in the Vatican, which shares the same moon face and dreamy expression, with heavy upper lids and shallow ridged brows, although missing is the wreath of laurel and wheat found on the head presented here (see C. Vorster, ed., Römische Skulpturen des späten Hellenismus und der Kaiserzeit, no. 61, pl. 79.1-4). There are a few depictions of Alexander as Helios from the Antonine period, although the surviving examples differ in style, especially with the sharp upward tilt of the head, while here the position is frontal (see the head in Boston in M.B. Comstock and C.C. Vermeule, Sculpture in Stone, p. 81, no. 127). Household gods, such as the Lares, as well as personifications, such as the Genius of the Roman People, are also shown with similar long flowing locks (see for example the winged Genius, sometimes identified as Aion, from the apotheosis scene on the base for the column of Antoninus Pius, now in Vatican Museums courtyard, pl. 127 in D. Strong, Roman Art, or the colossal standing figure of the Genius of the Roman People, the so-called Lare Farnese, p. 312 in S. De Caro, Il Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli).