That this head originates from a relief is not only confirmed by the presence of a nearly-flat plane to the subject’s proper-right side but also by the asymmetry of the face, most marked by the proper-right eye that sits much lower than the left, brows that run in different directions, and a mouth that slopes slightly to the right. When the head is viewed from its left side and turned to a three-quarter profile – as it would have been positioned on a relief – it is evident that these asymmetries were added to give the impression of a portrait carved in the round.

The subject, a young man with an unlined face and closely-cropped hair that breaks above the left eye, is related to a portrait of Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi, now in Copenhagen at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (see no. 75 in F. Johansen, Roman Portraits I). Jucker (op. cit., p. 35) posits that the present head likely originated from an aristocratic family tomb – one of the many that lined the roads into Rome – or was an ancestral portrait. The subject most likely faced other members of his lineage. While the man’s head tilts slightly to the left, it is probable that his body would have been displayed frontally, as seen in a contemporaneous imperial dynastic relief in the Museo Nazionale di Ravenna (see fig. 121 in D.E.E. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture).
Post Lot Text
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