Portrait Bust with Inscription

A.D. 100–115

Medium

Marble

Dimensions

40.5 × 20 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-237991

On this portrait bust of a very young child, the eyes are unarticulated, cheeks full, lips slightly compressed, and chin is small but firm. The hair is cut short above the brow in bangs that resemble those of the emperor Trajan (ruled AD 98-117) and thus provide an approximate date for the sculpture. The braided “lock of Horus” above the right ear is a Roman adaptation of the Egyptian coiffure indicating youth. It was often worn by Horus, the god of kingship, when he was represented as a child. In Roman art, the hairstyle acquired a more general association with the cult of Isis, an Egyptian goddess, the mother of Horus (also known to the Romans as Harpocrates). Her cult became popular throughout the Mediterranean in the Hellenistic period (323-31 BC), and its adherents worshipped Isis as a fertility goddess and as a protector of women and children. In a Roman context, the “lock of Horus” reflects a hope that Isis will protect the child in life and the afterlife, just as she protected her own son. Below the bust is an inscription in Latin, which reads: “Sweetest Martial, a house-born slave, who lived two years, ten months, and eight days. Tiberius Claudius Vitalis made this monu…