Head of a statue of a smaller than natural scale. It was found in 1887 southeast of the Erechtheion. The nose and the lower portion of the hair are missing.
The face has an oval shape, the chin is square, the eyes slanting and the lips form the characteristic reserved smile of the period known as the “archaic smile”. The hair is parted in the middle and form curls around the forehead and horizontal grooves on the back. A relief band or stephane retaining traces of painted ornaments decorates the head that is crudely sculpted on its upper part. A series of asymmetries might suggest that the head was slightly turning towards the right.
The statue this head belongs to is sometimes thought to be a Kore, sometimes a Sphinx and yet other times a Kouros. In case it does indeed come from a male statue it could also belong to a rider.
Some scholars consider this to be the work of the same artist who created the "Rampin Rider" (Ακρ. 590), the "Peplos Kore" (Ακρ. 679), the statues of hunting dogs (Ακρ. 143, Ακρ. 525 and Ακρ. 550) and other sculptures found on the Acropolis.
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Schrader, H., Archaische Griechische Plastik, Brerslau, 1933, σελ. 127, εικ. 95
Payne, H., Mackworth-Young, G., Archaic Marble Sculpture from the Acropolis, London, 1936, σελ. 3, εικ. 9.3, 10
Karouzos, Ch., «Notes on some Sculptures in the Acropolis Museum», Annual of the British School at Athens 39, 1938/39, σελ. 100
Langlotz, E., Schuchhardt, W., Schrader, H., Die archaischen Marmorbildwerke der Akropolis, Frankfurt am Main, 1939, σελ. 127, εικ. 95, αρ.κατ. 86
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Μπρούσκαρη, Μ., Μουσείον Ακροπόλεως. Περιγραφικός κατάλογος, Αθήνα, 1974, σελ. 54, εικ. 95
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Τριάντη, Ι., Το Μουσείο Ακροπόλεως, Ο Κύκλος των Μουσείων, Αθήνα, 1998, σελ. 91, 99, 101, εικ. 65