The Cesnola Collection is fortunate to have two fine early heads that belonged to full-length figures. Large-scale terracotta sculpture began to be made on Cyprus during the mid-seventh century B.C. Molds were used for the heads, while the bodies were handmade. This bearded head wears the helmetlike headgear that appears on the nearby limestone sculptures. Details are articulated with considerable care, and remaining pigment suggests the liveliness of the figures' original appearance.
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Title:Terracotta head of a man
Period:Cypro-Archaic II
Date:ca. 600 BCE
Culture:Cypriot
Medium:Terracotta
Dimensions:H. 11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm)
Classification:Terracottas
Credit Line:The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
Accession Number:74.51.1458
Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1894. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 2. pl. XV.116, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1895. The Terracottas and Pottery of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in Halls 4 and 15. no. 54, p. 6, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 1457, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Gjerstad, Einar. 1948. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition: The Cypro-Geometric, Cypro-Archaic, and Cypro-Classical Periods, Vol. 4(2). p. 106, Stockholm: The Swedish Cyprus Expedition.
Hermary, Antoine and Ms. Lillian Schlissel. 1991. "Les Debuts de la Grande Plastique Chypriote en Terre Cuite." Cypriote terracottas : proceedings of the First International Conference of Cypriote Studies, Brussels-Liège-Amsterdam, 29 May-1 June, 1989 / organized by the "Groupe de Contact interuniversitaire d'études chypriotes", F.N.R.S./N.F.W.O. (Belgium), Frieda Vandenabeele and Robert Laffineur, eds. p. 143, n. 50, pl. XXXIX.c, Brussels-Liège: Vrije Universiteit.
Karageorghis, Vassos. 1993. The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus, Vol. 3. no. 95, p. 40, pl. XXV.2, Nicosia: Foundation Anastasios G. Leventis.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 208, p. 139, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 282, pp. 242, 462, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Karageorghis, Vassos, Gloria Merker, and Joan R. Mertens. 2016. The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art : Terracottas. no. 65, pp. 15, 42–43, 254, Online Publication, [CD-Rom 2004], New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
