Marble Bust of a Man in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007

Marble bust of a man
Roman, Julio-Claudian period, mid-1st century AD

Accession # 12.233

Although the surface of this piece has been strongly cleaned and even recut in places, evidence of a heavy dark incrustation, formed during centuries of burial, is still visible, especially at the back. The expanse of chest, and the full, fleshy appearance of the face and neck are characteristics suggesting that the work was carved in the mid-first century AD either as a copy of a portrait created in the Republican period or as a new work cast in that realistic style.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.