Head of a Young Man (?) of Barbarian Origin, in the Pergamene tradition

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Artist
NameUnknown
Basic Info
PeriodHellenistic period, Late
Century2nd century BCE
CultureGreek?
Dimensions8 cm (3 1/8 in.)
Harvard Museum
DepartmentDepartment of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
DivisionAsian and Mediterranean Art
Contactam_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

45 Head of a Young Man(?) of Barbarian Origin The face is battered, and the surfaces are worn. The masses of hair around the forehead were treated in summary, impressionistic fashion. Traces of a fillet around the ample locks might suggest that this head is the ideal presentation of a prince from one of the nations on the fringes of the Greek world, perhaps in Asia Minor. Despite the damage, the head conveys much of the strength and nobility of the subject. A slightly larger portrait, termed Hellenistic and related to the heroic iconography of Alexander the Great in Egypt, was found in the area of ancient Aquileia in Northern Italy (Scinari, 1972, p. 57, no. 162). Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Misses Norton