According to the museum's labelling, this marble statue of Proconsul Stephanos is dated to the 6th century AD. It was found in 1923 with its inscribed statue base (see photos below) at the lower end of the Kuretes Street in Ephesus, near the Baths of Scholastikia. The base now stands near the find spot, outside the late antique "Alytarch's Stoa" (4th - 5th century AD). The body of the statue is older than the portrait head, which may have been sculpted in 6th century AD, during the reign of Emperor Justinian.

Little is known about Stephanos (Στεφάνος), however, from the inscription on the statue pedestal (see below) it appears he was from the Greek island of Naxos in the Cyclades. We also learn that he was a judge or games official in Ephesus. His garments, a tunic and toga, and the fact that he holds a sceptre in his left hand and raises a mappa [1] in the right, indicate that he was a proconsul of Asia. In the Roman Empire, proconsuls were appointed for one year as governors of provinces, though by Byzantine times they often served longer, and by the end of the 6th century AD the office ceased to exist.

It has been suggested that he may have been the same Stephanos mentioned in an inscription on the facade of the Library of Celsus as having converted the building into a nympheum (monumental fountain). [2] The library was destroyed either by an earthquake or the Goths during the 3rd century AD, and apparently thereafter never restored. However, since other scholars believe that the nympheum was constructed around 400 AD, this would make it too early for the proconsul. Stephanos was a common name, and the inscription may be referring to the architect of the nympheum rather than its sponsor.