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Source Description
The shaft of the stylus (a writing implement) is carved with an uneven spiral and terminates in a flattened male bust. The head of the bust has large staring eyes, and the hair is arranged with a part in the center, emphasized by two rising locks or curls. The hair falls in back to the neck, where it is squared off. Although this hairstyle does not appear in emperor or patrician portraits, it does occur on members of the Roman crowd viewing the translation of relics on the early ivory of Pulcheria and Theodosius II at Trier. The scene has recently been related to the events of 421, though the ivory could be somewhat later. The point of the stylus is broken.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
20498
label
Stylus Terminating in a Male Bust
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
20498
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Stylus Terminating in a Male Bust
description
The shaft of the stylus (a writing implement) is carved with an uneven spiral and terminates in a flattened male bust. The head of the bust has large staring eyes, and the hair is arranged with a part in the center, emphasized by two rising locks or curls. The hair falls in back to the neck, where it is squared off. Although this hairstyle does not appear in emperor or patrician portraits, it does occur on members of the Roman crowd viewing the translation of relics on the early ivory of Pulcheria and Theodosius II at Trier. The scene has recently been related to the events of 421, though the ivory could be somewhat later. The point of the stylus is broken.
provenance
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [cat. no. 64]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
mid 5th century CE (Late Antique)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
styluses
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
H: 3 15/16 in. (10 cm)
Source extras
med
bone
creator_ids
6191
collection_ids
ROM
exhibition_ids
3009
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
88b297fa75d706ba