Head of a Man with a Rosette Diadem

The somewhat broad and imprecise carving of this idealizing head may represent a provincial style of the region of Dendera. It may also be a harbinger of the dramatic decline in private statuary that occurred by the late first century B.C. A rosette is symbolic of light and regeneration, and a rosette diadem sometimes symbolizes posthumous deification. However, here the diadem may be the insignia of a provincial governorship or a priesthood.