On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Head of Hermes-Thoth
This colossal male head belonged originally to a standing cult statue of the god Hermes-Toth. In Hellenistic Egypt, the Greeks recognized the congruence of their god Hermes with Thoth, god of magic and writing, and subsequently the two gods were worshipped as one.
The winged diadem with a central pointed lotus leaf, which originally surmounted this head appears often on small-scale Roman bronzes of Hermes, but is highly unusual in marble sculpture. The figure’s deep-set eyes were originally inlaid with sheet bronze for the eyelashes, marble for the whites of the eyes, and glass or colored stone for the irises and pupils.
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