Portrait Head (Primary Title)

Unknown (Artist)

50–25 BC
Egyptian
Marble
Overall: 11 3/4 × 6 3/4 × 8 in. (29.85 × 17.15 × 20.32 cm)
2018.501

This ruin of a portrait shows a man with a shaved head, identifying him as an Egyptian priest. The bust was probably damaged by early Christians eager to suppress pre-Christian religions in the 4th or 5th centuries. The greater individuality of this portrait contrasts with more traditional images of priests in VMFA’s Egyptian gallery, while the modelling is quite different from that of the nearby Roman veristic portrait.

Ptolemaic
Gift of Mark Huffman and Sue McGovern-Huffman

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