Head of a Priest at The Dallas Museum of Art, Texas

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This exquisite Roman imperial portrait head, preserved in excellent condition, significantly enriches two distinct areas of the Museum's ancient art collection: Roman portraiture and Near Eastern art. Distinguished portraits from the late second to the early fourth century A.D. showcase remarkable mastery of subtle modeling and expressive psychological depth. The native Roman taste for realism in portraiture was expanded during this period to include hints of personality and even spiritual temperament. The face and hair of this portrait head are meticulously carved with the rich, sensuous realism characteristic of portrait sculpture in this cosmopolitan era of the Roman Empire. However, the priestly role represented by the man's conical headdress is specific to the Asian regions under Roman rule. Elaborate representations of priests similar to this head can be found in Asia Minor and in the arts of Palmyra, as well as in Syria proper, where this head originated. Many examples of Palmyrene portrait sculpture may be viewed in museums throughout both the United States and Europe. In a Palmyrene funerary group in the National Museum, Damascus, depicting a husband and wife, the man wears a headdress that fully covers his hair and is decorated with a wreath and priest's bust, indicating his profession. The relief of Aphlad, also in the National Museum, Damascus, depicts a priest in a cap similar to the one on the Dallas Museum of Art head, but with his hair showing under its rim. Other analogies to this head may be seen in Anatolian sculptures of priests, such as a fine funerary portrait in the Adana Museum, Turkey, in which the headdress clearly indicates the man's role as a priest during his lifetime. The conical headdress has a long history in Near Eastern religious art. Originally, it was the mark of divinity; by the time of the Roman Empire, it had become the regalia of priests serving various Syrian and Anatolian deities. A priest of the Anatolian mother-goddess Cybele in the museum in Ostia, Italy, wears such a headdress. The well-known frescoes from a synagogue in Dura-Europus, Syria, now housed in the Damascus museum, also show priests wearing similar headdresses. However, the idealized nude Greek figures adorning the headdress on the Dallas Museum of Art head represent a complete fusion of Near Eastern beliefs and Greco-Roman style. The incised eyes, which give the figure an hypnotic intensity, are typical of such late Roman portraits and often emphasized to suggest the spiritual state of the person represented. This handsome head embodies the syncretic character of religion and culture in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire, as well as carrying on the tradition of Roman portraiture represented by the Dallas Museum of Art's two great second-century portraits of two young men. This object is part of "Scan The World", a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open source, community effort; if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to learn how you can help.