Cyprus, early Hellenistic Period, ca. 310 BCE. This is a quarter-size limestone head, depicting a male youth wearing a laurel wreath over slightly wavy hair. His face has classically beautiful features, with blank eyes (these would most likely have been painted in antiquity), a narrow nose, and a small mouth with full lower-lip. Size: 4" W x 5.1" H (10.2 cm x 13 cm)

This piece is stylistically similar to those from the earliest part of the Hellenistic period, particularly in the carving of the hair and eyes. Limestone sculpture had a centuries-long tradition in Cyprus; it flourished during the Archaic and early Classical periods before its decline in the fourth century BCE. Greek control over the island during most of that time period - as well as a less overt but still important Greek influence on eastern Mediterranean culture - meant that Cypriot sculptors often imitated Greek statuary. This particular head looks similar to one found from the temple at Golgoi; he may have been a votary, one who has made vows to religious service, an athlete, or someone who had earned this distinction for other reasons. He may also not be based upon any known person, but just an idealized person. The Greek veneration of male youths is an artistic constant (and the veneration of youth - and a particular kind of young male beauty - are definitely identifiable in most cultures, including our own). This piece comes to us from one of the last periods when Cypriot artisans produced limestone art. The availability of marble and bronze statuary from other parts of the Greek cultural influence, coupled with the ease with which artists could travel around the area during the relative peace of the Hellenistic era meant that the homegrown tradition of limestone sculpture died off, replaced by more dominant cultural memes from outside the island.

This piece was de-accessioned from the Cesnola Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, one of the original collections when the Met opened at its current site in 1880, and the one of the major collections that the Met itself credits as establishing the Museum's reputation as a major repository of classical antiquities. Cesnola had a military career in Europe and in the American Civil War before he was appointed the American consul in Cyprus in 1865. During that time he amassed an enormous collection of Cypriot antiquities, not just through purchase but also through his own excavations. Cesnola himself believed that he was to Cyprus what antiquarian Heinrich Schliemann was to Troy; he also hoped to find evidence for links between the Biblical and Classical worlds. Despite initial overtures to the Louvre and a successful exhibition in London, Cesnola ultimately accompanied his collection back to New York where, in 1877, he accepted a place on the Met's board of trustees; he went on to serve as the museums' first director from 1879 until his death in 1904.



Published "Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York" 1885, item number 1106

Provenance: Ex-Cesnola collection (Metropolitan Museum of Art), published "Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York" 1885, item number 1106

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#115612

The head is removed from a larger statue, with an old break at the neck; the head itself is intact, with clear details and excellent preservation - the facial features, in particular, are sharp.