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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1969.188
Title
Fragment of a Palmyrene Head
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
head, sculpture
Date
150-200 CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Palmyra (Syria)
Period
Roman Imperial period, Middle
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/287351

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Limestone
Dimensions
actual: 20.3 cm (8 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Edward W. Forbes
Accession Year
1969
Object Number
1969.188
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990
154

Fragment of a Palmyrene Head

The bottom of the face is preserved from under the left part of nose down. The break is diagonal through the middle of the head with the upper part missing.

It is difficult to ascertain whether the subject was male or female, although it was probably a man rather than a well-constructed Palmyrene lady, but this is far from certain. This lower part of a face is like that of a priest, an aging man of about A.D. 140—170 in Boston (Comstock, Vermeule, 1976, p. 255, no. 397). With a bit of imagination, the grooves and slightly roughened area on either side of the chin might suggest a beard, probably finished in paint. Palmyrene men usually have beards carved in low relief with rows of tight curls (Comstock, Vermeule, 1976, p. 255, no. 396), but the two older men playing a board game to either side of a young man in a relief also in Boston, dated about A.D. 225, have simple, roughened beards in anticipation of the Tetrarchic style late in the third century (Comstock, Vermeule, 1976, p. 259, no. 406).

Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer

Publication History

  • Edward Waldo Forbes, Yankee Visionary, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1971), The Checklist, p. 150
  • Fogg Art Museum Acquisitions, 1969-1970, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1971), p.132
  • Cornelius C. Vermeule III and Amy Brauer, Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 168, no. 154

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