The stone head was found in 1934 while an extension to the Bon Marché building on Northgate Street, Gloucester was being constructed.

[5]: 339 The rear surface is flat, which has led most scholars to conclude that the head was originally served an architectural purpose.

[5]: 342–343  Vincent Megaw (who favours a 1st-century date) has conjectured that the stone head formed the crowning feature of a pillar monument.

[5]: 340  The lentoid eyes and small mouth have been singled out as particularly Celtic in influence;[2]: 123  so has the expression, which Jocelyn Toynbee has described as "aloof, almost wrapt".

The 1st century date (early in the Roman occupation of Britain) therefore depends on the supposed Julio-Claudian influence on the head.

[2]: 122–123  Megaw complimented the "tenacity" of "Celtic creative expression", which managed not to be submerged under Roman stylistic influence.

[5]: 340  Greene cites the Winchester Cathedral Tournai font and the sculpture of St Peter at Kilpeck Church as figures in British Romanesque art which exhibit similar facial structures and have bowl cuts with individual locks.

[5] Martin Henig has concurred with Greene, further citing the figures on the south portal of Kilpeck and the St Giles Hospital, Hereford tympanum.

[5]: 344  The St Giles Hospital tympanum and the sculptures at Kilpeck are all works of the Romanesque Herefordshire School, which flourished in the 12th century and perhaps had a direct influence in Gloucester.

[6]: 23 Chwojko and Thurlby decline to decide between the two dates to which the stone head has been assigned, but note that among works of the Herefordshire School, "the modelling is more plastic, especially for the cheekbones" (though exceptions to this rule are found at Kilpeck).

[6]: 23  Chwojko and Thurlby do note that the difficulty of dating this stone shows the strong influence of regional Roman sculpture on British Romanesque art.