Portrait of a Bearded Man

Private individuals in the Roman period frequently modeled portraits of themselves on those of the reigning emperor. Carved in the mid-100s, this portrait of a middle-aged man borrows several elements from the official portraits of the ruling emperor of this period Antoninus Pius: tousled hair; short beard, deep-set eyes, furrowed brow, and lined cheeks. Portraiture in the Antonine dynasty begins to move away from the ageless, classicizing portraits favored by previous rulers. The technique of carving the eyes with an incised iris and drilled crescent-shaped pupils gives a new intensity to the gaze of Antonine portraits. It is also during this period that it became standard for ordinary people, not just philosophers and intellectuals, to wear beards.

This sculpture has suffered damage through time. The head has snapped off a full-length bust and the nose is broken. The cracks and gray discoloration in the marble indicate that the head was burned in a fire.