Roman and Early Byzantine Portrait Sculpture in Asia Minor, Supplement I

Authors : Elisabeth Alföldi, Kenan Erim, Jale Inan

Pages : 1-24

View : 30 | Download : 11

Publication Date : 1968-01-20

Article Type : Research

Abstract :HEAD OF A JULIO - CLAUDIAN, probably Germanicus. Found in 1964 in Ephesus, on the Arcadiane. Fairly fine - grained white marble. H. 0.240 m., W. 0.190 m. Broken off below chin. Part of nose, lips, rims of ears chipped off. Several chips in hair. Surface was finely rubbed, now roughened by weathering and encrusted in parts. The head was turned to its right, and the right ear has been worked slightly less carefully than the left. Otherwise the workmanship is of equal quality at the back of the head as on the face. The portrait shows a young man of perhaps 20 years of age. His hair is brushed from the crown forwards and down the neck in irregular tiers. The locks fail fairly deep onto the forhead. The tips form a small "fork" slightly to the right of the centre and a kind of "tongues" at the right corner of the forehead. The two centre locks are a little longer than the rest and rendered more prominently. Above the centre there is an irregular cluster of locks curved in different directions. The hair is very long at the back, and from about the height of the ears all the locks are brushed towards the face so that a kind of parting exists at the neck. Along the temples the hairline is gently curved and merges with a sprouting beard that frames the cheeks and the chin, growing thinner towards the latter and spread a little on to the throat. The forehead is broad and the shape of the face slightly triangular. The nose was aquiline, the chin is very prominent. The eyes are comparatively narrow, their outer angles slightly pointing downwards. The eyebrows, which form prominent ridges, are raised by contrast, and there are considerable flesh folds between them and the thin upper lids. The mouth is small and the curved lips are firmly pressed together.
Keywords : Roman Sculpture, Portrait Sculpture, Asia Minor Sculpture Art, Roman Period, Early Byzantine Period, Ephesus, Aphrodisias