Around 1924/1925 Rothko worked as a bookkeeper for his relative Samuel Nichtberger, CPA and tax attorney. This head is drawn on Jurisprudence Bond paper with ruled margins like those often used in accounting firms, suggesting the mid-1920s as the earliest likely date for this work. Stylistically, however, it does not differ markedly from other ink drawings that can be responsibly dated to the early 1930s.