Archaistic female head
Archaistic female head
Datelate 1st century BCE
Mediummarble
Dimensionsobject: 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm)
ClassificationSCULPTURE
Credit LineSBMA, Gift of Wright S. Ludington
Object number1973.72
Subject(s)
- women
- heads and faces
Collection
- Antiquity
Sub-Collection(s)
- Roman
On View
On viewCollections
Label TextThis female head almost certainly derives from a herm, a sacred boundary stone that took the form of an upright shaft crowned by a sculpted head. The earliest herms carried the head of the Greek god Hermes, giving the objects his name. This head is a curious pastiche of Greek styles, combining the stylized snail-curl hair of the archaic period (about 7th-5th centuries BCE) with facial features characteristic of Classical (about 480-323 BCE) and Hellenistic (about 323-31 BCE) sculpture. An archaic (or archaistic) style is often found in herms and other traditional religious sculpture.
