Portrait of a Third-Century Man in the Princeton University Art Museum, August 2009

Portrait of a Man
Roman, middle of the 3rd century AD
Yellowish marble, possibly from Asia Minor

# Y1970-1

The man's surly gaze, high cheek bones, heavy-lidded eyes, aquiline nose, and short hair and beard recall portraits of the emperor Philip the Arab, who reigned from AD 244-249. The hair and beard were carved in shallow relief and then textured with swift strokes of the chisel. The roughly carved support on the back of the neck is a feature often found on Roman portraits from Turkey. Philip the Arab was a successful general, and this private portrait may be of a soldier.

Text from the Princeton University Art Museum label.