Harvard Art Museums > 1932.56.115: Small Head of a Bearded God Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Small Head of a Bearded God , 1932.56.115,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 08, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/146560. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1932.56.115 Title Small Head of a Bearded God Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture, head Date 1st-2nd century CE Period Roman Imperial period, Middle Culture Roman Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/146560 Physical Descriptions Medium Greek marble Dimensions 17.5 cm (6 7/8 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Dr. Harris Kennedy, Milton, MA (by 1932), gift; to the William Hayes Fogg Art Museum, 1932. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy, Class of 1894 Accession Year 1932 Object Number 1932.56.115 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 199084 Small Head of a Bearded God The nose is mostly broken away and rubbed down. The hair and beard are worn. There is considerable incrustation. Evidently once part of a Roman household herm, the head is of Greek Imperial workmanship, perhaps to be dated in the first to second centuries A.D. The style has something reminiscent of the head of Zeus by Pheidias at Olympia, as transmitted through derivatives of the fourth century B.C. The quality of carving suggests this herm came from Attica or the Greek islands, for it has a sensitivity and lack of mechanical production not found in the decorative sculptures from Pompeii and Herculaneum. A filleted head of Zeus or Dionysos of an Asiatic cult type, seemingly from Cyprus, is a slightly smaller variant of this head, perhaps from the same workshop along the western coast of Asia Minor or in the Greek islands. It came to Boston in 1871 or 1872 with the first Cesnola collection (Comstock, Vermeule, 1976, p. 135, no. 212). Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer Publication History James R. McCredie, "Two Herms in the Fogg Museum", American Journal of Archaeology (1962), 66, pp. 188-189, pl. 56, figs. 3, 4 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. 99, no. 84 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
