The fragment is most likely a Roman copy of a Greek philosopher, writer or orator. In a letter dated 1975 from the former director of Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Flemming Johansen, it is tentatively suggested the head could be of Sophocles (the Farnese type). Provenance: J. A. Jerichau (1816–1883). Sold at the Jerichau estate sale in 1884, lot 47–50 “Damaged head and fragments of heads”. Stated in bill. Professor C. Wilkens (1844–1929). Danish private collection, by inheritance.