Bronze Head of a Grotesque

Culture: Roman

Period: 2nd century A.D.

Material: Bronze

Dimensions: 8.5 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 3555

Provenance: From an old New York collection. 2009 in a New York auction house.

Condition: Intact

Description: High-quality and very expressive bronze head of a bald grotesque which possibly served as an attachment on a carriage. The grotesque with a round back of the head, long hook nose and bulging lips, which are slightly open and frame the sticking out, long tongue. The brows are bulging, the forehead wrinkles deep. The eyes are wide open, the pupils punched. The grotesque wears a vestment closing at the neck. The head sits on an attachment which is pierced on the sides for mounting on the carriage. In the National Museum of History in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a similar head with a tongue sticking out from the mouth on the left side. However, the head in Sofia has the hair worked out in cold work and the tongue is gilded. Possibly from Thrace. Mounted.