Plaque with Male Head

The Detroit Institute of Arts: South Arabian Sculpture; Plaque with Male Head (100-1 BCE). 1st century B.C.; South Arabian (Yemen); Alabaster; The eyes and brows of this head were originally inlaid in a darker stone and the "dimple" on the chin with bronze, indicating perhaps a tattoo which was probably meant as a mark of nobility or power. The South Arabian taste for abstract forms is reflected in the treatment of the smooth beard and geometric hairstyle, combined here with a more naturalistic rendering of the face derived from a Greco-Roman style of sculpture.