574. Head of Sarapis

Condition

Broken under the chin. The surface is severely weathered. Deep iridescent grooves and chalky accretions cover the pitted surface.

Description

Head of a mature bearded man in the round. Long, rich, curly hair surrounds the face and covers part of the god’s forehead. Facial characteristics are fine, and the heavy lips are partly covered by the high-relief beard. The base of a modius (a basket measure of grain) is visible on the crown of his head, which identifies the head, with its flowing locks and benign expression, as the god Serapis.

Sarapis was a popular Graeco-Egyptian deity venerated throughout the Roman Empire. He was depicted as a mature male in the Greek way, with wide face, long hair, and full beard, further identified by the kalathos or modius on his head and, typically, by the locks on his forehead. He was depicted either standing or, more often, seated and holding a scepter, with Cerberus, the three-headed dog and gatekeeper of the underworld, resting at his feet (Hornbostel 1973; LIMC VII [1994], s.v. “Sarapis” [G. Clere and L. Leclant]).

Comments and Comparanda

This type of Sarapis bust is quite widely known in stone examples (Kater-Sibbes 1973). Among others there is a direct parallel in opaque red glass in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated to the first–second centuries CE, allegedly from Rome (17.194.1475: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/250142; Richter 1954, no. 165, p. 90, plate 118a–c.; Froehner 1903, p. 46, no. 271, plate 32.1–2); Hill 1946, p. 66, no. 11.

For other Roman glass sculptures, see parallels listed under cat. 575.

Provenance

By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his son, Gert Oppenländer, 1988; 1988–2003, Gert Oppenländer (Waiblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003

Bibliography

von Saldern et al. 1974, p. 192, no. 528.

Exhibitions

Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)