As the Roman empire extended north, east and west through Europe the people they encountered (and fought with) were usually referred to as Celts. These people had their ‘otherness’ represented by characteristics such as facial hair and ornaments. This so-called Celt has a close-cut beard and around his neck wears a torque with a crescent moon pendant, something Romans would never be shown wearing.
The hair, however, is less authentic. It resembles a Roman style common in the time of the expansionist emperor Trajan, in the early second century CE. The appearance of the original sculpture is much more striking than in this cast: the head and neck are of white marble while the bust is of contrasting black jasper
Prado, Madrid
Purchased in 1884 from Berlin
Hübner: Catalogue of the Prado, Madrid, 134, no.258
Blanco: Catalogo de la Escultura Museo del Prado, 91, no.154E
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 116, no.608
Reporter: 19 June 1885, 895, no.528
Unknown
