A large and exceptional piece. The face carved with fine detail (note the intact ears), and painted with red pigment over gesso with black eyebrows, cosmetic lines around the eyes, details in the right ear, and jawline from the right cheek to chin. Red, green and blue pigments decorate the headpiece in stripes of color on the sides and a red disk lined with yellow in the center.
Condition: Loss of pigment and gesso as can be seen, together with minor cracks. Loss of pigment and gesso on the left side of the chin reveals an empty dowel hole, possibly for a beard (now missing) with a further two visible dowel holes between the headpiece and top of brow. Hebrew writing in black pigment on back attests to acquisition by a previous owner. Museum quality custom mount. Overall, just fabulous!!
Dimensions: height 12 inches (30.5 centimeters)
Provenance: ex Moshe Dayan collection, thereafter a private San Francisco collection, California.
