Portrait of a Young Boy in the Princeton University Art Museum, August 2009

Portrait of a Young Boy
Roman, Antonine, Late 2nd century AD
Marble

Inventory # Y2002.36

Roman portraits frequently were commissioned to commemorate the dead. This head of a young boy probably was kept in the atrium of a private home, along with other ancestor portraits in stone, bronze, terracotta, or wax. Roman tradition decreed that such imagines be paraded at funerals so that deceased family members could attend the ceremonies. As with many ancient sculptures, the missing tip of the nose was restored in modern times with a marble of a slightly different color: the juncture is clearly visible. Today such restorations are seldom undertaken, as they may be inaccurate and require that the break be recarved and fitted with a metal pin to secure the appendage.

Text from the Princeton University Art Museum label.