Rampin Head
Front
2015-00-00
Name/Title
Rampin HeadEntry/Object ID
77G1015Description
Head of a man from an equestrian statue. Intricate hair and beard, Archaic style facial features. Right cheek and nose damaged. (The torso and horse which belong to the head are in the Acropolis Museum, Athens.)Type of Sculpture
StatueArtwork Details
Medium
ResinContext
This head of an equestrian statue was discovered west of the Erechtheion in the late nineteenth century and was named after its first owner, French collector Georges Rampin. It is part of the oldest, most famous equestrian statue on the Acropolis. He wears a wreath of wild celery or oak leaves, signifying victory at an equestrian event such as the Olympic Games. Practically contemporaneous with the Kouros of Paros, it is a more expert work as is shown by the finer modelling of the face and the highly elaborate hairdo accomplished with an expert punch and chisel. The figure bears the ‘Archaic Smile’, as it is called, an artistic convention and solution to the problem of producing a natural mouth in proper perspective to a narrow face. The Paros Kouros has the same smile, but to a lesser degree, thanks to his oval face.Made/Created
Date made
560 BCE - 540 BCETime Period
ArchaicEthnography
Culture/Tribe
Greek - Archaic