Bronze Head Possibly of a Hellenstic Ruler in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, January 2018

DEACESSIONED October 12, 2023

A personification or idealized Greek king
Greek or Roman
Late Hellenistic or Imperial Period
1st century B.C.–2nd century A.D
.
Medium/Technique: Bronze

Dimensions Height: 29.2 cm (11 1/2 in.); width: 27.5 cm (10 13/16 cm)

Credit Line: Anonymous gift

Accession Number: 2003.786

Collections: Ancient Greece and Rome

Classifications: Sculpture

Description: Head of a god with incised beard and mustache. The face is broad at the cheekbones and tapers to a small, pointed chin. The mouth is small. The hair springs up above the forhead and cascades down beside the face in long, turbulent curls. The left eye and all above and over to the left cheek are missing; the right eye is empty, as if once inlaid. The face is flattened and distorted by ancient damage.

Provenance: About 1952/1966, probably illicitly excavated at or near the site of ancient Bubon, near Ibecik, Turkey [see note]. By 1966, Jerome M. Eisenberg, Royal-Athena Galleries, New York; 1967, sold by Eisenberg to an anonymous collector; 2003, anonymous gift to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 16, 2003); October 12, 2023, deaccessioned by the MFA for transfer to the New York County District Attorney and return to the Republic of Turkey.

NOTE: On the looting of Bubon between about 1952 and 1966, see George E. Bean, Lycian Turkey: An Archaeological Guide (London, 1978), 164.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
In 1966, dealer Jerome Eisenberg showed MFA curator Cornelius Vermeule a suite of bronze fragments, including this face and a leg (former MFA accession no. 68.732). The leg is believed to be part of a life-sized statue of an emperor from the imperial sanctuary at Bubon. Although the face does not appear to come from the same statue as the leg, it emerged on the market at the same time. Both Eisenberg and Vermeule, who published several studies of the Bubon material, associated the face with the site. Since Bubon was not scientifically excavated until 1967, the face was almost certainly illicitly removed shortly before appearing on the market.

In light of an investigation by the New York District Attorney, in 2023 the Museum reached out to representatives of the Republic of Turkey about the sculptures. The MFA voluntarily transferred the leg and the face to the District Attorney’s office for their return.


Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/436506/a-personification-or-idealized-greek-king