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While fulfilling occasional commissions, Messerschmidt focused obsessively on a series of sculptures that he referred to as 'Kopfstücke', or 'head pieces." he completed no fewer than sixty-nine, and the sculptor appears to have held on to the heads throughout his life. Each of these works was unique, either cast in a soft tin alloy, which the artist favoured, or carved in local alabaster.
The present head is one of the most introspective of Messerschmidt's busts. A balding, blocky man tucks in his chin, causing wrinkles to form in the flesh of his neck and chest. His brow is deeply furrowed, and creases of skin radiate symmetrically from his mouth and around his jowls.
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