ANTONINE, CIRCA MID 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF A WOMAN
ANTONINE, CIRCA MID 2ND CENTURY A.D.
Lifesized, her oval face with softly-modelled features, with rounded cheeks and a pointed chin, the thin brows arching over the small almond-shaped eyes, with heavy upper lids, the irises and heart-shaped pupils articulated, her small mouth with fleshy lips pressed together, the center-parted hair brushed in scalloped waves across her forehead and over her ears, arranged in six overlapping segments, plaited and coiled into a tight chignon
8¾ in. (22.2 cm.) high

Provenance

with Marcel Platt, Paris, 1971.
Albert G. Hess (1909-1993), New York; thence by descent.

Brought to you by

Molly Morse Limmer

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MLimmer@christies.com Tel: +1 212 636 2246

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Lot Essay

This hairstyle is worn by Faustina Minor, wife of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, in the first of her designated portrait types when she was crowned as Augusta at the age of seventeen, circa 147-148 A.D. See, for example, her portrait from Hadrian's Villa, now in the Capitoline Museums, Rome, p. 279, no. 246 in Kleiner, Roman Sculpture.

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