La tête Sabouroff est-elle celle d’un homme aux cheveux rasés ?

Does the Sabouroff Head represent a Man with Shaved Hair ? The apparently exceptional representation of a man’s hairstyle and beard such as the one of the Sabouroff Head (of uncertain origin) from the Pergamon Museum in East Berlin can be found on other pieces. The author of the paper describes the technique (dotting with the sharp end) and dates the head approximately to 550-540 B.C. The discussion concerns the absence of the hair and beard. Could the dotted area, as some authors believe, just be a preparation for a stucco coating ? This hypothesis is rejected since the concern for final smoothing is remarkable. It is therefore necessary to examine the possibility of a short hairstyle. Various texts show that a shaved beard and shortened hair are related either to mourning or to the idea of a loss in general (e.g. a departure for war, etc.). Comparisons are made with similar representations (New York, London, Athens, Paris). The question whether the Sabouroff head had a votice or funerary function has not however been resolved.Delattre Liliane. La tête Sabouroff est-elle celle d’un homme aux cheveux rasés ?. In: Histoire de l'art, N°5-6, 1989. Iconographie. pp. 11-22