Head of a Male Votary

Limestone head of a bearded man wearing a pointed helmet with raised earflaps. The face is dominated by big, schematically rendered eyes under slightly raised eyebrows with partly preserved vertical incisions. The cheekbones are prominent and the mouth is small, with tight lips. The greater part of the nose is lost. Framing the lower part of the man’s face, the beard is structured by a dense pattern of vertical zigzag lines. Its lower part is broken off. The ears are carved somewhat cursorily, and the long hair falling into the neck is only roughly shaped. The back of the head is unfinished. Traces of a white slip remain in the groove outlining the proper left earflap, and there are traces of red pigment, likely ocher, on the earflap itself. The head was once part of a statue of a male votary of a type frequently dedicated in Cypriot sanctuaries during the late seventh and earlier sixth centuries BCE. To judge from complete examples, the man would have been depicted with a long tunic, a mantle, and bare feet. The break surface of the neck is perfectly smooth, and was clearly evened out in modern times, probably with a saw.