DiscussionPortrait head for insertion of Emperor, Arcadius (?). Constantinople. Late fourth to early fifth century DESCRIPTION (Object)Life-size head, worked separately. H: 32.5, W: 18 cm. H (chin to edge of diadem): 21 cm. Large-grained white ‘Pentelic’ marble. The head is fully preserved with its neck and small plug. There are minor chips at the tip of the nose, in the upper left ear, and in the pearls of the diadem. The hair beneath the diadem is rendered with fine parallel lines of a claw chisel over grooves made by a flat chisel. Above the diadem the hair/head has been shaped with a flat chisel. The irises are not indicated. The pupils are large hollows which presumably once held inset stones. The inner canthus of the left eye is indicated by an engraved flat-chisel line. The corners of the mouth and outer corners of the eyes have drill points. The pearls of the diadem are separated by drill-work. The nostrils and ears have large regular drill holes. The face has a rasp finish. PROVENANCE Found in Beyazit. It was excavated in June of 1949 just outside the ancient Forum Tauri near its western wall. It was found more or less 100 m north of the Column of Theodosius. It lay above sarcophagi and pottery of the third century AD which themselves were above virgin soil. It thus seems not to have been found in a dump and probably its original location was the Forum. DESCRIPTION (Subject) The head shows a youth with evenly cut hair that curls that falls in a regular arch over a smooth brow. He wears a pearl-edged diadem which has a central rectangular jewel flanked by pearls. The hair has no part and is fine, straight, and longest in front of the ears. The face is long and slender with large and heavy-lidded eyes. High-arching eyebrows give the eyes yet greater emphasis. The nose is long and narrow, and the flesh on either side is modelled. The mouth has a well-defined filtrum and up-turned corners. The upper lip has a central overhang and the lower lip is full and pouting. The chin is narrow and projecting. Two lines are incised on the front of the neck, and there is a depression at the base of the neck where the sterno-cleido mastoids converge. DATE AND IDENTIFICATION The physiognomy and diadem identify the honorand as a youthful Emperor. The hairstyle, facial type, and form of the diadem resemble those of the portraits of Theodosian Emperors from Aphrodisias (LSA-163 and LSA-168) which are securely dated by their bases to the years of 388-392. The portrait head must, therefore, represent a youthful Theodosian Emperor. In a period of thirty-five years, between 388 and 423, there are four possibilities: Valentinian II (aged 17-21 from 388-392), Arcadius (aged 11-21 from 388-398), Honorius (aged 9-21 from 393-405), and Theodosius II (aged 9-21 from 410-423) (as, for example, LSA-426). Firatlı identifies this head as Arcadius, on the assumption that, as it was found in the heart of Istanbul, it was less likely to be Honorius. This identification is favoured; see, for example, Inan and Rosenbaum. Von Sydow believed that it was stylistically more refined than the portraits of Arcadius and Honorius and that it had more in common with a portrait identified with Theodosius II in the Louvre (LSA-453. Thus, he identified it as an early portrait of Theodosius II. Stichel, following essentially the same argument, also identifies it as Theodosius II. His point of reference, however, is the portrait in Trier (LSA-584) which he identifies as Honorius and which he understands as similar but less stylized. All of these arguments are hypothetical. The Theodosian Emperors were honoured in family groups throughout the Empire. Thus, provenance is not a crucial element to the identification; see, for example, from Greece: LSA-52; from Asia Minor: LSA-267; from Rome: LSA-1305; and from Northern Africa: LSA-2160 and LSA-2161. Moreover, none of the other portraits cited are securely identified. Main ReferenceFıratlı, N. 'A Late Antique Imperial Portrait Recently Discovered at Istanbul', American Journal of Archaeology 55, New York 1951, 67-71, figs. 1-5Fıratlı, N., La sculpture byzantine figurée au Musée archéologique d'Istanbul, Paris 1990, 7, no. 5, pls. 2-3 Inan, J. & E. Alföldi-Rosenbaum, Römische und frühbyzantinische Porträ̈tplastik aus der Türkei : neue Funde, Mainz 1979, 138-9, no. 82, pl. 74.1-2 Discussion ReferencesStichel, R. H. W., Die römische Kaiserstatue am Ende der Antike, Roma 1982, 51-2, pls. 17-18 (Theodosius II) Sydow, W. von, Zur Kunstgeschichte des spätantike Porträts im 4. Jahrhundert. n. Chr, Bonn 1969, 126-7 (Theodosius II) |
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