Votive Head of a King
Unknown Artist
305–246 BCE
Medium
limestone
Dimensions
21.6 × 16.5 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Accession Number
1920.1999
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The browband, part of a royal headdress, identifies this fine head as a king. Curiously this head is in limestone, one of very few in this medium. They are fairly common in plaster. This one, apparently in imitation of its plaster prototypes, has been hollowed out; the gouging marks are still clearly visible. The portrait type is most closely associated with Ptolemy II. An exact date, however, is speculative at best as features like this occur as early as Dynasty 29.