A limestone relief depicting the profile of a man’s head with a short, curled beard. He looks to the left and wears a headpiece that is made of many small rectangles pointing up.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A horizontal, rectangle-shaped limestone relief depicting the profile of a man with a short, curled beard. He looks to the viewer’s left. His hair is also cut short and wears a headpiece that is made of many small rectangles pointing up. The entire piece is grey and brown colored.

Gallery Text

As indicated by the vestiges of a bow slung over the shoulder and a quiver behind the head, these two fragments (1943.1063 and 1943.1064) are of royal guards. Each has a carefully groomed beard, wears a tiara, and once held a spear. Persians were expert archers: the king even appeared as an archer on his coins (see the case behind you). At Persepolis, images of guards on stairway facades and inside doorways likely mirrored actual guards posted there according to court protocol.

The two fragments come from a palace built by King Xerxes I; the lower body and quiver of one figure remain in place. Taken from the site in the earlier part of the 20th century, these and the other Persepolis fragments on view here were acquired by Harvard alumnus Grenville Winthrop (Class of 1886), who left them to the university.

Fragments from Persepolis

Persepolis (City of the Persians) is the Greek name for one of the capitals of the Achaemenid Persian empire (c. 550–330 BCE). The Persians called it Parsa—like the people and the region at the empire’s heart, today’s Fars province in Iran. Especially significant to ancient Persian identity, the city is a key site for Achaemenid archaeology. The empire was the last of the great Middle Eastern empires before Alexander’s conquest, extending from Egypt in the west to the Indus Valley in the east. The massive terrace at Persepolis contained monumental stairs, gate buildings, audience halls, residences, and a treasury; royal tombs were carved into nearby cliffs. The walls were of mud brick, but stairways, doorways, and columns were made of limestone and decorated with sculpture in relief and in the round. Subject peoples from across the empire contributed materials, labor, and know-how to the building efforts, and the site’s architecture and sculpture incorporated motifs from conquered regions. The result was a unified visual representation of Achaemenid kingship and empire.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.1064
Title
Relief Fragment: Head of an Archer of the Royal Guard
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
486-465 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Persepolis (Persia)
Period
Achaemenid period
Culture
Achaemenid
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/291528

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3440, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Middle Eastern Art in the Service of Kings
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Limestone
Technique
Relief
Dimensions
55.9 cm h x 35.6 cm w x 15 cm d (22 x 14 x 5 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
From the Palace of Xerxes, Persepolis (Iran). [Y. Azizollahoff and Co., London, (by 1937)], sold; to [Brummer Gallery, Inc. NY, (1937)], sold; to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York, (1937-1943), bequest; to Fogg Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.1064
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Eric Schroeder, "Relief Sculptures from Persepolis", Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum (1943), Vol. 10, No. 2, 44-45, p. 44.
  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), p. 256 (checklist).

Exhibition History

  • Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/22/2007 - 01/20/2008
  • 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Related Objects

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu