This under life-size head of the bearded god Hermes would originally have surmounted a rectangular pillar, as is clearly indicated by the flat planes of the neck. Such sculptures, conventionally known as herms, have their origins in the last quarter of the 6th century B.C., and were employed principally as boundary markers and guardians of entrances and thoroughfares. The heavily lidded eyes, almost doughy rendering of individual locks of hair, and fleshy features all support a date in the Early Classical period. Damage to nose, and to proper left brow, moustache and beard. Some wear to surfaces. Significant traces of orange iron-oxide patina on head's proper left side.
PROVENANCE
Formerly Coll. N. Koutoulakis, Geneva, 1950s-1960s. Thereafter, German art market, 2012.
NOTE
For a general study of herms with the heads of bearded gods, see E. Krämer, Hermen bärtiger Götter: Klassische Vorbilder und Formen der Rezeption (Münster, 2001). A close parallel, notably in the full frontal view, is provided by a head in Athens (NM 2237), ibid. 37 ff., no. 13, pl. 6. Found in Eretria in 1891, it has been dated to the mid-5th century by E. Pochmarski, Das Bild des Dionysos in der Rundplastik der klassischen Zeit Griechenlands (Vienna, 1974) 55. For the calligraphic treatment of the hair, with curls accentuated by selective drill-work, one may compare especially the "Seer", figure N from the East pediment, and Lapith youth, figure Q from the West pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, outstanding exemplars of Severe Style sculpture of the Early Classical Period, from the second quarter of the 5th century B.C., for which see B. Ashmole and N. Yalouris, Olympia: The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London, 1967) pls. 31-38 (Seer) and 86-88, 90 (Lapith). For the dynamism, and for the colouristic texturing, of hair and beard, one may also look to Warriors A and B in Reggio, from Riace, two rare surviving Greek masterpieces in bronze, of the decade ca. 460-450 B.C. For a slightly later herm head, ca. 450 B.C., once in the same collection and exhibiting a similar Attic orange patina, see J.-L. Zimmermann, Collection de la Fondation Thétis (Geneva, 1987) 64-65, cat. no. 118, and 173, illus. (now New York, MMA 1992.11.61).