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Roman, Eastern Empire
Portrait head of a bearded man
c. 4th-5th century A.D.
Limestone
Height: 51 cm
(Stock no 8567)
Provenance: Saade 1976, Chevalier collection, Konstanz am Bodensee, Germany
This imposing head of a young male is of exceptional quality considering it originated from the more remote part of the empire – Syria.
Although Rome had colonized this part of the middle – east the more sophisticated aesthetic techniques had not permutated this far. The most important city in Syria, Palmyra, was five hundred miles from the nearest inhabited area. Remoteness, however, did not deter the Palmyran population from profiting from their location: they were on the East West Silk Road – a route which provided richly laden caravans of rare spices, silks and gold.
The abundance of wealth can be seen in the form of rich adornments depicted on the portrait busts of Palmyran women. Marble, however, was not available as a carving material, so the sculptors had to use limestone – the material of our work. The fine quality of our head would suggest, however, that it is not from the actual city of Palmyra, but more towards coast maybe from the Levant. Palmyran sculpture, although decorative, is rarely sophisticated, it is stylised showing a certain amount of influence from Parthian works from the East.
