DiscussionShield portrait of youth with long locks and bulla. From Aphrodisias. Fourth to fifth century. DESCRIPTION (Object)Life-size shield portrait. H: not recorded. White marble. The upper part of the shield and frame and both lower corners of the frame were missing. The pupils may have been drilled out in a heavy crescent shape. PROVENANCE From Aphrodisias. Lost in a fire near the Evangelical School in Istanbul in 1923. See also LSA-238, LSA-602, and LSA-604. DESCRIPTION (Subject) The subject shows a youth who wears an ample thin garment and a bulla. The head turns gently to the proper left. The hair falls in a short fringe of C-shaped locks that bend to the proper left. Two longer, wavy, locks fall onto the shoulders. The face is full and smooth with regular features. The neck is large and cylindrical and is marked with two Venus lines. DATE The rendering of the garment in flat schematic folds which run parallel to each other as well as the marking of the pupil provide technical reasons for a date in the fourth century. The structural similarity and probable find spot connect this shield portrait to LSA-238 and LSA-602 which probably best belong in the fourth century. The Izmir Evangelical School Group (LSA-238, LSA-602, and LSA-604) relatesthematically and structurally to the main group of shield portraits from the Atrium House at Aphrodisias (LSA-206, LSA-207, LSA-210, LSA-211, LSA-212, LSA-213). It merits note that boys with similar hairstyles are depicted on the Obelisk of Theodosius at the end of the fourth century. Main ReferenceArndt, P. and W. Amelung, Photographische Einzelaufnahmen antiker Sculpturen : nach Auswahl und mit Text , Munich 1893-1947, no. 3207Discussion ReferencesErim, K.T., "De Aphrodisiade'", AJA 71 (1967), 243, n. 55 |
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