Head of a Boy

Unknown

200–100 B.C.

Terracotta

J. Paul Getty Museum

A terracotta bust depicts the head of a young male with wavy hair, wide eyes, and an open mouth. The sculpture is presented against a plain gray background. This small head depicts a youth with long hair that cascades in wavy locks down the neck and is arranged above the forehead in a looped braid or topknot. The hairstyle of a looped braid is often found on heads of youths identified as Eros. The head is hollow and may have originally been part of an architectural revetment in high relief. The youth’s asymmetrical features, which appear normal when viewed from below, suggest that this sculpture was once placed high on a building. On temple facades, reliefs with multiple figures drawn from myth and history filled the pediment (the triangular space above the columns) or sheathed the ends