Lot Essay
Female portraits of the mid 3rd century A.D. often feature hairstyles with rows of fastidiously-arranged rippling waves, as popularized by the empress Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. Later empresses and noblewomen in the period succeeding the Severans would also sport slightly toned down versions of Julia Domna's "helmet coiffure," as the style came to be known. While impossible to ascertain the identity of this woman, similar hairstyles are seen worn by Julia Mamaea and Otacilia Severa (see nos. 35 and 37, in K. Fitschen and P. Zanker, Katalog der Römischen Porträts in den Capitolinischen Museen und den anderen Kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom).