A sketch by Pirro Ligorio, datable before 1549, shows two statues, one of which has been identified as a colossal bust of 'Isis/Demeter', conserved in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio, the other as a 'Horus-falcon' (presently on the Fontana del Bosco in the gardens of the Quirinale) hereto considered to be of modern workmanship. From the various drafts of Ligorio's description of Hadrian's Villa we may deduce the provenance of both sculptures from the Tiburtine villa of the emperor Hadrian, and more specifically from the so-called Palestra, an area where past finds and recent excavations have revealed the distinct presence of Egyptian cults and where they may have been set up in an apse of the nymphaeum. The two marble statues are therefore attributable to imperial patronage, this being consistent with Hadrian's well-known cultural and religious tendencies.
Acquired by Ippolito II d'Este, and restored, the two statues were soon after set up in the garden of the cardinal's villa on the Quirinale, where they were drawn by various Renaissance artists. The bust, with the addition of a lunula at the top, was placed above an architectural relief with the image of Ocean, it too coming from Hadrian's Villa, thus creating, possibly on the recommendation of Ligorio himself, a display inspired by the Ara Borghese, now at the Louvre, representing the setting of the Moon in the sea.