1970.01

Marble Head of a Youth

Purchased. Preserved ht 12cm.

Grey and red streaked marble. Much of the left side of the head and neck is missing and there is a flat area at the back of the head suggesting that it was originally part of a relief. Note also the elongation of the neck and the cruder carving towards the back of the head. There is clear evidence of the use of a drill for some of the curls of the hair, for the nostrils and for the corners of the mouth.

Despite the small size of the head, the treatment of the hair and face suggests that the head is not as late as Severan. The upward tilt of the head, the undercutting of the brows and the fullness of the chin to some extent recall late classical work, and this too may point to a date in the earlier half of the second century AD. One might have supposed that the head came from a sarcophagus but the use of particoloured marble would be unusual at this date.

Folio Fine Art Ltd (London), CataIogue 67 (November 1969) no. 727; J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 93.