The porphyry and white marble head, known as the dying Alexander, made around the end of the sixteenth century in Ferrucci’s workshop, is a copy of the well-known Hellenistic white marble sculpture conserved at the Uffizi. Egyptian red porphyry was one of the stones used in the ancient world, always considered as a royalty symbol.
After the end of the Roman civilization, the knowledge in sculpting and carving this extremely hard and difficult stone got lost. Cosimo I, loving this material, stimulated the resuming of such technique and Ferrucci’s workshop specialized in the challenging sculpturing of this rare stone.