A FRAGMENTARY ROMAN MARBLE HERM HEAD OF HERMES, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D. | A Fragmentary Roman Marble Herm Head of Hermes

with long beard falling in three tiers of overlapping voluted curls, long moustache, parted lips, and large eyes, his hair bound in a fillet and arranged in three rows of spiral curls over the forehead and temples; no restorations.

said to have been found in the river Waal in Holland or in the sand on the banks of the Rhine by Nijmegen
Ars Antiqua AG, Lucerne, Auktion III, April 29th, 1961, no. 27, pl. 15
estate of Belgian psychoanalyst Jacques Schotte (1928-2007), Ghent (Bonhams, London, April 29th, 2009, no. 112, illus.)

Dietrich Willers, "Zum Hermes Propylaios des Alkamenes," Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen lnstituts, vol.  82, 1967, p. 101, no. 33, figs. 79-81

As shown. Note missing nose and chipped proper left eyebrow and proper right cheek. Top row of curls worn, abraded and chipped. Minor chips, abrasions, and areas of staining elswewhere. Front of head was recently lightly cleaned to remove remaining areas of incrustation, especially on beard, and possibly covered in a thin layer of wax. For prior condition see 1961 Ars Antica catalogue plate, 1967 publication plate, and 2009 Bonhams illustration. Back broken more or less flat with areas of dark and heavy incrustation. Remains of a dowel hole of square section on proper top right of back.
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