Marble Statuette of a Male Figure with Shaggy Hair in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sept. 2007

Marble statuette of a male figure with shaggy hair
Roman, Imperial period, 1st or 2nd century AD
Copy or variant of a Greek statue of the 3rd or 2nd centuries BC

Accession # 42.201.7

The figure is shown in a spiralling upward movement, perhaps in dance or in blowing on an instrument. Tritons, with their long fish tails, are often shown with wild hair and powerful torsos. This could be such a sea creature, possibly blowing on a conch shell.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.