CIRCA LATE 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

This impressive head of an Olympian finds a close parallel with another example from a monumental statue in Berlin, no. 113 in S. Hüneke, et al., Antiken I: Kurfürstliche und königliche Erwerbungen für die Schlösser und Gärten Brandenburg-Preußens. Both share the same treatment of the hair, bound in a diadem and centered parted with two distinct locks rising over the forehead (in a manner recalling the anastole) and a moustache terminating with upturned voluted curls. While previously catalogued as depicting Jupiter, A. Dostert (p. 227 in Hüneke, et al., op. cit.) notes that the type could in fact also represent Neptune or Asclepius, and without other preserved attributes a secure identification is not possible.

The present head is mounted on a circa 18th century bust and was previously mounted on a white marble socle when photographed in 1934.