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A carved limestone sculpture of the head of a man. He has a beard and a tall, round head piece. He has large, almond shaped eyes, a narrow nose, and a small mouth.

A carved limestone sculpture of the head of a man that is tan in color. It stands on a black pedestal on a dark grey background. He has a beard and a tall, round head piece. The head piece does not have any decorations and comes to a rounded point at the very top. He has large, almond shaped eyes, a narrow nose, and a small mouth.

Gallery Text

Sanctuary visitors on Cyprus in the sixth century BCE would find themselves among painted limestone sculptures of votaries, both male and female, ranging in size from statuettes to statues larger than life. This head of a bearded man, wearing a pointed helmet with raised earflaps, is one of about 700 pieces excavated in 1870 by the American consul and future director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832–1904), at the sanctuary of Apollo at Golgoi (near Athienou). It was originally part of a monumental statue that would have looked similar to the statuette with a mantle in the case on the right. The statue’s form and size reflect the arts of Assyria and Egypt, neighboring powers that exerted political control (short-lived, in the latter case) over Cyprus between the late eighth and mid-sixth centuries BCE. Greeks appreciated Cypriot statuary and dedicated it in their own sanctuaries.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2017.167
Title
Head of a Male Votary
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
head, sculpture
Date
600-550 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Cyprus
Find Spot: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Golgoi (Cyprus)
Period
Cypro-Archaic period
Culture
Cypriot
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/358261

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, traces of paint
Technique
Carved
Dimensions
42 cm (16 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Sanctuary of Apollo at Golgoi, Athienou, Cyprus (UN buffer zone), found; by Luigi Palma di Cesnola, New York (1870-1874), sold; to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1974-1928), sold; through [Anderson Galleries, New York, 1928] to J. (or G.) Bernard. [Christies Antiquities sale 14355, New York, 25 April 2017, lot 232], sold; to the Harvard Art Museums.

Note:
Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832-1904), American Consul, first director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Marian H. Phinney Fund
Accession Year
2017
Object Number
2017.167
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Limestone head of a bearded man wearing a pointed helmet with raised earflaps. The face is dominated by big, schematically rendered eyes under slightly raised eyebrows with partly preserved vertical incisions. The cheekbones are prominent and the mouth is small, with tight lips. The greater part of the nose is lost. Framing the lower part of the man’s face, the beard is structured by a dense pattern of vertical zigzag lines. Its lower part is broken off. The ears are carved somewhat cursorily, and the long hair falling into the neck is only roughly shaped. The back of the head is unfinished. Traces of a white slip remain in the groove outlining the proper left earflap, and there are traces of red pigment, likely ocher, on the earflap itself.

The head was once part of a statue of a male votary of a type frequently dedicated in Cypriot sanctuaries during the late seventh and earlier sixth centuries BCE. To judge from complete examples, the man would have been depicted with a long tunic, a mantle, and bare feet. The break surface of the neck is perfectly smooth, and was clearly evened out in modern times, probably with a saw.

Publication History

  • Luigi Palma di Cesnola, A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, James R. Osgood & Co. (Boston, 1885), pl. xlix, no. 228
  • The Stone Sculptures of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in Halls 5 and 3, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1895), p. 88, no. 1394
  • The Stone Sculptures of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in Halls 14, 18, and 19, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1904), p. 93, no. 1430
  • Cypriote & Classical Antiquities: Duplicates of the Cesnola and Other Collections [Part 1] Sold by Order of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, auct. cat. (New York, March 30th and 31st, 1928), p. 94, no. 359
  • Antoine Hermary and Joan R. Mertens, The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art: Stone Sculpture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2014), pp. 28-29, note 24
  • Antiquities, auct. cat. (New York, April 25, 2017), p. 31, no. 232

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/07/2017 - 01/01/2050

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