Head of a Child
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Head of a Child” now? Collection: Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Cambridge, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the sculpture
Head of a Child
The back of the bust is flat. The right side of the head and the left side of the nose are chipped. There are also chips on the right eyebrow, forehead, and right cheek. A crack runs vertically down the full side of the right cheek, and there is an incision going almost at right angles across the crack. The right side of the bust is finished, as is a curved section under the left side, as if for placement against a curved frame.
The pose is frontal, with the hair worn in curled bangs and a heavy wreath around the head. The cheeks are fat, and the chin pointed, the eyes hollowed out and mouth wide open. There are two incised ridges on the front of the neck. There is also a wreath with rosettes and leaves around the shoulders.
Read on
There is a possibility that these rosettes are intended to be bunches of grapes and that the ideal subject, a smiling child of the Neronian to Trajanic periods (A.D. 55-115), is the infant Dionysos or a satyr-child. The tops of the ears are covered by the vines and leaves. Save for the manner of representing the hair around the forehead, this bust is similar to the small, decorative herms set on shafts against walls in Pompeiian houses. Such herms vary widely as to subject matter, including older satyrs, Silenus, bearded Dionysos, and early Hellenistic kings who were represented in the fashions of these bearded divinities.
Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer
Harvard Art Museums
Details
- Accession number
- 1920.44.222
In the catalog
Sources
- Harvard Art Museums
- Image: Harvard Art Museums — © President and Fellows of Harvard College
