A Roman Marble Janiform Herm Head Height 13 1/2 inches.

CIRCA LATE 1ST-EARLY 2ND CENTURY C.E.

each side depicting a bearded male deity with a severe Classicizing countenance, likely Neptune, Jupiter or Dionysus, with a long spade-shaped beard formed of individual locks curling at their ends and a downturned mustache, his center-parted hair pulled back, bound behind and falling in thick straight tresses along his neck, the middle-aged countenance with thickly-lidded large almond-shaped eyes unarticulated, drilled at their inner canthi, the lips outlined, the brows likely once painted, now slightly discolored, one side with extensive drillwork, the other side almost identical but left undrilled, perhaps unfinished, possibly representing an earlier style.

Height 13 1/2 inches.

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, Antiquities, May 30, 1986, Lot 31 Note: In the ancient classical world, crossroads were often marked by the placement of a rectangular pillar topped with the head of a god. In the early Greek period the head most often depicted Hermes, the god of boundaries and travel. As such, the statues came to be known as herms. These pillars were erected for their apotropaic powers. They also provided travelers with the opportunity for worship and dedications along their way. Janiform heads, such as the present example, with two heads looking in opposite directions, are so named for the Roman god Janus who was the god of passage as well as the beginning and the end. In this period, two headed herms were very popular as they could face those making passage in each direction.