This contribution presents recent work on an important Roman marble head of the mid-second century ad from the collection of the British Museum (1884,0617.1). The head was found on the Esquiline Hill in Rome in 1884 and soon after its discovery was acquired for the British Museum. Unusually, it retained extensive traces of its original polychromy, including otherwise rarely preserved skin pigments. Ever since the German scholar Georg Treu published the sculpture in 1889, it has played a significant part in the discussion of ancient sculptural polychromy and in particular the question of whether or not the flesh parts of marble sculptures were originally painted. However, early doubts about the authenticity of the pigment traces led some twentieth-century scholars to question the authenticity of the sculpture as a whole. For this study, the polychromy of the head was extensively investigated using non-invasive techniques (ultraviolet and visible-induced luminescence imaging) and invasive analytical methods, including Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, high performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. It was found that complex mixtures of pigments, and selected pigments for specific areas, were used to create subtle tonal variations. These included: calcite, red and yellow ochres, carbon black and Egyptian blue for the flesh tones; calcite to provide highlights on the flesh areas; lead white and Egyptian blue for the eyeballs; a red organic colourant in the nostrils, the lachrymal ducts and the inner parts of the mouth; and red and yellow ochre for the hair. The examination confirmed beyond doubt the authenticity of the preserved pigments and thereby the sculpture itself, which can now rightfully reassume its important place in the art historical discussion of the polychromy of ancient sculpture. In addition, it provided valuable insights into Roman painting techniques on marble and allowed revealing comparisons to be made with other ancient polychrome works, such as funerary portraits.
