Male Bust1st-3rd century

Not on view

Title: Male Bust
Place Made: Yemen
Date Made: 1st-3rd century
Medium: Marble and coral
Dimensions: 12 × 6 × 3 in. (30.48 × 15.24 × 7.62 cm)
Credit Line: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky
Accession Number: M.73.5.356
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Ancient
Curatorial Notes: Death was a key concern in ancient Arabia. Many resources and much time were dedicated to constructing necropolises, mausoleums, and tombs that survive in varying degrees to the present day. Burials were connected to the living through the inclusion of personal belongings, such as jewelry, and were attended with offerings by surviving descendants. Funerary sites also appear to have held spiritual significance as they were frequently built alongside cultic monuments such as temples and shrines to gods. Figural sculptures such as this one were often placed in tombs in commemoration of the deceased. The blank spaces of the eyes would have once been inlaid with shell, bitumen, or glass (now lost). The addition of a coral ornament in the forehead is rare in sculptures such as these; the coral likely came from the Red Sea, where reefs are abundant.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya, ed. Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973.

Not on view

Title: Male Bust
Place Made: Yemen
Date Made: 1st-3rd century
Medium: Marble and coral
Dimensions: 12 × 6 × 3 in. (30.48 × 15.24 × 7.62 cm)
Credit Line: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky
Accession Number: M.73.5.356
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Ancient
Curatorial Notes: Death was a key concern in ancient Arabia. Many resources and much time were dedicated to constructing necropolises, mausoleums, and tombs that survive in varying degrees to the present day. Burials were connected to the living through the inclusion of personal belongings, such as jewelry, and were attended with offerings by surviving descendants. Funerary sites also appear to have held spiritual significance as they were frequently built alongside cultic monuments such as temples and shrines to gods. Figural sculptures such as this one were often placed in tombs in commemoration of the deceased. The blank spaces of the eyes would have once been inlaid with shell, bitumen, or glass (now lost). The addition of a coral ornament in the forehead is rare in sculptures such as these; the coral likely came from the Red Sea, where reefs are abundant.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya, ed. Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973.