Western Greece, Rhodes, Archaic period, ca. 600 to 500 BCE. A mold-made terracotta section featuring the high relief head of an older man with a serious face. He has deepset eyes and an intense expression, depicted in a naturalistic manner, with a hint of wrinkles at the forehead. This section was most likely a protome and part of a larger scene made to be applied to a larger area. The head is on a background with a wide geometric pattern. Size: 1.4" L x 2.5" W x 2.3" H (3.6 cm x 6.4 cm x 5.8 cm); 3.2" H (8.1 cm) on included custom stand.

By the seventh century BCE, Greek art began to evolve from its embrace of geometric patterning, which was favored between approximately 1050 and 700 BCE, to a desire to create more naturalistic representations of the human figure. Most famous are the freestanding sculptures of two main types, the male standing youth known as a kouros, and the draped standing female kore. The earliest examples demonstrate an Egyptian influence in both pose and proportions, but over time sculptors created even more lifelike representations. These were placed in sanctuaries as well as cemeteries and served as grave markers and dedications to the deities. Protomes like this example demonstrate these developing naturalistic leanings of Greek visual culture.

Provenance: private Swiss collection

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#124218

Piece is a fragment; face has nicely preserved details and a small loss to the chin.