Head of an Elderly Man in the Princeton University Art Museum, August 2009

Head of an Elderly Man
Greek, Attic, ca. 340-317 BC
Marble

# Y1962-131

The man's hair and beard are less finished on his left side, and the crown of the head is flattened in back. This suggests an original placement of the entire figure within the architectural frame (naiskos) of a funerary stele. The man probably stood in profile at the left side of the composition, so that only the more detailed features on his right side were exposed. The flattened area would have corresponded to the crossbeam of the naiskos, indicating a pose with the head lowered. The great depth of the relief and the naturalistic features point to a date late in the 4th century but before 317 BC, when a decree forbade the erection of elaborate grave monuments in Athens.

Text from the Princeton University Art Museum label.