Celtic Head, c. 100-300?

A complete composition in and of itself, this stone head was never attached to a torso. The Celtic tribesmen who made it practiced ritualistic veneration of the human head, placing monumental stone heads like this one throughout their religious shrines.

A depression in the head's crown may once have held libations or offerings. Although nearly two thousand years old, this unusual head's bluntly minimal, anti-naturalistic carving remarkably recalls modern and contemporary sculpture.