The head is slightly over life-size, and was once part of a larger (full body) composition.  The arm originally lay on top of the head, with the hand resting lightly on the crown; traces remain of the little finger of the right hand.  The facial features, especially the eyes and mouth, are deeply carved.  They are softly modeled with little indication of bone structure or musculature.  The hair is carved in loose, wavy ridges and is drawn off the face into a chignon at the nape of the neck.  The fillet along the top of the forehead is probably a mitra, the headband worn by followers of Liber (or Dionysus) to ward off headaches caused by excessive drinking.  The turn of the head slightly to the left indicates that the pose of the full figure was not strictly frontal.

Comparison with a torso of Dionysus from the Horti Lamiani in Rome suggests that the Kelsey head may be reconstructed as belonging to a sitting or reclining type, similar to the figure of Liber/Dionysus in the frieze from the Villa of the Mysteries.

-- Molly Swetnam-Burland, from Gazda, E., ed The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii: Ancient Ritual, Modern Muse (Ann Arbor, 2000), Cat. #92