Harvard Art Museums > 1969.188: Fragment of a Palmyrene Head 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"Fragment of a Palmyrene Head , 1969.188,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 08, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/287351. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1969.188 Title Fragment of a Palmyrene Head Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture, head 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 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 1990154 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
