Head of a Goat

1st century BCE-1st century CE · Sculpture

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Head of a Goat” now? Collection: Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

Harvard Art Museums

Cambridge, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 13 days ago
In this state since: Sep 27, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the sculpture

This head of a goat has high curving horns, with a central segmented spine above the brow, and incised segments along the length to the outward curving tip (1). There is a fringe of hair, in locks, on the brow. The goat’s long floppy ears hang down above two other protuberances depicting locks of hair. The goat also has a long beard of wavy locks, although the beard is broken at the bottom. The goat’s face is carefully modeled with raised brows above the molded eyes and impressed circular pupils. The long snout and nose, rendered as though seen from above, are above the simple mouth line. The back of the beard is carved, but no other details are indicated on the reverse of the piece. The back of the head has an overall concave shape. This goat head could have been used as an attachment, perhaps for a vessel (2).

NOTES:

Read on

1. A goat figurine in the Netherlands has a head with similarly rendered horns and beard; see A. N. Zadoks-Josephus Jitta, W. J. T. Peters, and W. A. van Es, Roman Bronze Statuettes from the Netherlands 1: Statuettes Found North of the Limes (Groningen, 1967) 108-109, no. 44; as does one at Lyon, see S. Boucher and S. Tassinari, Bronzes antiques du Musée de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine a Lyon 1: Inscriptions, statuaire, vaisselle (Lyon, 1976) 95, no. 94.

2. See “Acquisitions,” Director’s Report 1988/1989: 36-44, esp. 38. Compare M. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Greenwich, CT, 1971) 318-19, no. 444; and H. Sedlmayer, Die römischen Bronzegefässe in Noricum, Monographies instrumentum 10 (Montagnac, 1999) 39, no. 3.4.1, pl. 16.5.

Lisa M. Anderson

Harvard Art Museums