DiscussionPortrait bust of man in armour made from disparate elements. Antioch on the Orontes (Syria). Late third to early fourth century. DESCRIPTION (Object)Three separate elements combined to form life-size bust. H: 81, W: 44 cm. H (of head, chin to crown): 22 cm. Fine-grained white marble. The head, bust, and cylindrical bust foot are all separately worked and combined to make one monument (probably in the late third century, see below). (1) The head is preserved with the neck which is cleanly cut around its base. (2) The bust is fully preserved and hollowed out at the back with a central spine. The front of the tabula bears large chisel strokes which suggest that the original surface was removed, rather than unfinished (as Rosenbaum suggests) or used as a tenon (as Brinkerhoff, p. 14, suggests). (3) The foot is completely finished with upper and lower mouldings. The head has been re-cut. It is small for the neck. The top and back of the head have been worked down to the shape of the skull with an indentation between the base of the skull and the neck. The hair has been indicated on these surfaces with large but consistent chisel work. Around the brow, temples, and on the face small locks of hair have been more carefully indicated with finer chisel work. The pupils are large circular hollows. The irises are not indicated. PROVENANCE Found in a villa, just outside the city walls, dated to the late fourth or early fifth century. It was discovered in a room, possibly a kitchen, with a similarly-sized nude portrait bust of a man with a long beard, a porphyry head of a Tetrarch LSA-523, and a large variety of mythological sculpture. All three of the portraits were found prior to the official excavations in 1934. The chance find of this cache in the then military barracks led the Syrian officials to turn the site over to the excavation team. Although clearly a dump, the material once probably adorned the late-antique villa. DESCRIPTION (Subject) The portrait bust wears a cuirass which has a square neckline and leather shoulder lappets. The breastplate is decorated with a figure of Ares in the centre and a Nike on the shoulder strap. On the left shoulder is a cloak which is fastened with a round fibula. Beneath the pectorals is a broad belt which is knotted in the centre with the end tucked under the proper right side of the belt. The head turns to its right. It shows a man with short hair, which falls naturally down and backwards at the temples, and a short beard which covers the entire jaw line. He has two deep furrows across the brow, a large long nose, and deep naso-labial folds. The furrows, eyebrows, and mouth are all asymmetrical; they rise on the proper left side. DATE The fashion style of the head, beard and hair, must date after the mid-third century. Rosenbaum considered it to be possibly a portrait of Trebonius Gallus (AD 251-53). Fittschen compared the structure of the head and the expression to the portrait of Carinus and thus judged it to be post-Gallienic and possibly Tetrarchic. Brinkerhoff saw it as a third century portrait, possibly re-worked from a head of Maximinus Thrax. The shape of the head, the schematic chisel work, the large pupils for the insertion of stone or glass, and the composite nature of the monument seem unlikely to occur before the end of third century. Moreover, the find location in a late Roman villa with a porphyry portrait of a Tetrarch suggests a date late in the third century. Main ReferenceStillwell, R. (ed.), The Excavations 1933-1936. Antioch on-the-Orontes II, Princeton 1938, 172, no. 134, pl. 5Inan, J. & E. Alföldi-Rosenbaum, Römische und frühbyzantinische Porträ̈tplastik aus der Türkei : neue Funde, Mainz 1979, 127-130, no. 76, pls. 67.2 and 68 (Trebonius Gallus?) Discussion ReferencesFittschen, K., “Rez zu: Römische und frühbyzantinische Porträtplastik aus der Türkei: Neue Funde”, GGA 236 (1984), 205, no. 76 (post-Gallienic, probably Tetrarchic) |
[Sleeker_special_clear]