HEAD OF A CROWNED DIGNITARY Cypriot art from the... Lot 29

HEAD OF A CROWNED DIGNITARY Cypriot art from the 6th-5th century B.C. Limestone H. 29.2 cm; L. 23 cm Provenance Former Alfred E. Mirsky (1900-1974) collection, United States Sale to benefit the Rockfeller University Graduate Program Male head carved from a block of limestone that has the characteristics of the local grain of the island of Cyprus. Its dimensions reflect the natural size of a man in the prime of his life, as the presence of a beard and a moustache tend to express. The face is oval and has prominent cheekbones. The eyes are almond-shaped and surmounted by pronounced superciliary arches. The lips express a slight smile, in the purest archaic tradition. The beard is structured in three rows of curly-tipped locks. The hair is organized in long linear strands, which fall low on the nape of the neck and on the forehead where they end in a curve. The ears are well clear on the sides. The particularity of this head lies in the ornamentation of a vegetal crown that encircles its circumference: a garland of oak leaves and acorns (fig. 1). This element would allow us to link this man "s head to a monumental sculpture, life size, of a worshipper. Indeed, a good number of male and female images have been found in the sanctuaries of Cyprus (fig. 2). They are thus the main subject of this art. Cypriot monumental sculpture was born, in parallel with the Greek world, in the seventh century B.C. It was almost exclusively executed in local limestone, since marble was not present on the island. The Cypriot sculpture thus follows the evolutionary axes of the great continental Greek sculpture. This is the reason why we can propose to place the head under examination at the very end of the Archaic period and at the beginnings of the classical Cypriot art. Conservation Good general condition; several dents and chips (nose, beard, hair, arches, crown).