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Head of Athena
Greek
Early Classical Period
about 480 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Marble, fine-grained Greek
Dimensions
Height x width: 14.5 x 15.4 cm (5 11/16 x 6 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number00.307
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
Catalogue Raisonné
Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 026; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 107 (additional published references).
DescriptionThe face only is preserved, having been broken off vertically in front of the ears. The top is a smoothed surface, rising slightly in shallow curves from the sides to a central ridge. The forehead and nose are broken off. The working of the top surface of this split-off fragment suggests that the head was helmeted and therefore represented Athena. The broad face with rounded jaw and prominent chin, the hair drawn to the sides in thick masses of crinkly waves, and the almond-shaped eyes seemingly affixed to the face have all been taken as touchstones of Tarentine style in the early Transitional period.
ProvenanceBy 1900: with E. P. Warren (according to Warren's records: Taranto: from a temple there); purchased by MFA from E. P. Warren, February 1900