basanites
Missing nose and uraeus.
H_16,5cm
Roman art, XNUMXnd-XNUMXrd century
This head with youthful and idealized features represents the face of a king wearing the nemes and uraeus (fragmentary).
The oval face, the almond-shaped eyes slightly hollowed on the edges and domed on the inside are underlined by large eyelids and fine eyebrow arches.
The light play of volumes brings intensity and softness to the look. The right nose is partially damaged at the tip. The fleshy lips with slightly descending corners give an impression of severity. Large, finely sculpted ears emerge from the nemes. On the top of the skull, a round and flattened area with a hole, suggesting that the headdress must have been composed of an additional element that has now disappeared.
This Romanized representation of a royal head evokes the long wave of Egyptomania during the Augustan and Hadrianic periods following the conquest of Egypt by Octavian.
The production of Egyptian statuary accompanies the spread of Isiac and Osiriac cults in Rome and throughout the Empire, with also the appearance of Egyptian-Roman deities and representations with syncretic styles and iconography. In this new tradition, the use of colored stones from Egyptian quarries still evoke the relationship and perception of the Romans in the face of this fascinating culture.
For similar typologies see the collection of Egyptian statuary from the Villa Hadriana now housed in the Vatican Museums
An Egyptian priest's head from the same period in the Barocco Museum, Rome, inv. MB31
Origin :
Swiss collection. Acquired from Galerie Nefer, Switzerland in the 80s
A ROMAN BASALT HEAD OF AN EGYPTIAN KING, 2ND CENTURY AD
Full Description