Royal male head composed of several fragments glued back together

• Achaemenid Persian Empire
• Iran
• Ca. 500 B.C.
• Lapis-lazuli. Visible lacunae
• Height: 6.9 cm, width: 5.1 cm
• INV. 241-10

These remnants of a head are sufficient to render all the delicacy and precision of such a portrait. The treatment of the face corresponds to the conventions of Achaemenid portraiture: a sharp, aquiline nose; delicately outlined almond eyes; and a curly beard. R. Ghirsman mentions in this context a lapis lazuli sculpture in the round, probably depicting a Mede carrying a lion cub. The National Museum of Iran in Tehran also has in its collections a head executed in the same material, depicting a prince and coming from Persepolis.

Published in: Zimmermann 1991, pp. 130–31.

• Audrey Jouany
• Le profane et le divin, arts de l’Antiquité. Fleurons du musée Barbier-Mueller, musée Barbier-Mueller & Hazan (éd.), 2008 : p. 342.
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