CIRCA FIRST HALF OF THE 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF A WOMAN
CIRCA FIRST HALF OF THE 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Lifesized, depicted with her head turned to her right, her mature face with angular cheekbones and sunken cheeks, tapering to her pointed chin, her small full lips pressed together, her articulated almond-shaped eyes with heavy lids drilled at the inner canthi, the flesh drooping below, with shallow naso-labial folds and subtle pouches beneath her eyes, her wavy locks fashioned in a melon coiffure, combed in parallel rows running back from the forehead, tucked behind her ears, fastened into a spiral nest of braids encircling the crown of her head
13¾ in. (34.9 cm.) high

Provenance

with Robin Symes, London, 1996.

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Lot Essay

Female portraiture in the Roman period can be dated by the coiffures made popular by the Imperial family and imitated by all classes of society. The coiled braids forming a nest fronted by melon-like scalloping, as seen here, is a refined version of hairstyles of the late 1st-early 2nd century A.D., with high "toupets" above the forehead, with a nest of braids at the crown of the head. See, for example, the portraits of Marciana and Matidia, pls. 3-4 in Kleiner and Matheson, eds., I Claudia, Women in Ancient Rome. The Empress Sabina modified the coiffure, eliminating the high "toupet," as evinced in her portrait likely created on the occasion of her becoming Augusta, pl. 5, op. cit. See also the portrait of Avidia Palutia from Yale, cat. no. 30, op. cit., which portrays a woman of similar age as the present portrait (late 20s to early 30s).

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