Late Roman/Early Byzantine Terracotta Sculpture of a Stylized Human

Though sculpted in a naive style, barely nodding in the direction of the classical busts from which it derives, this lively terracotta nonetheless evokes an ancient life. We feel in its presence that age-old human desire to leave some mark on the world, to say: "I was here." We would never mistake it for a recognizable portrait, yet something in its wide stare recalls that long-forgotten individual to our imaginations.