This is one of 13 head-and-shoulder busts atop square pillars in front
of the Sheldonian Theatre on Broad Street in Oxford, England. The original
busts were erected in the 1660s but were crumbling by 1868 and were
replaced. The current busts, modeled on the originals, were erected in 1972.
The heads have been referred to as philosophers or emperors, but they actually
were created to show different types of beards.
More photos from England are in my Cities, places gallery.