A ROMAN MARBLE VEILED FEMALE HEAD

Depicting a female head with her wavy hair drawn back and held with a fillet, she wears a veil that is drawn up over the back of her head, under which the outline of a high bun is clearly visible. Her head is strongly tilted to the left, gazing downwards and with prominent nasolabial folds and delicate mouth. The observational portrait-like details of the full, indented lips, dimpled chin and the neck lines, would suggest that this is not an idealised goddess but a portrait of an aristocratic lady or priestess.

For a similar draped head of a priestess , see J. Inan & E. Rosenbaum, Roman and Early Byzantine Portrait Sculpture in Asia Minor, London, 1966, p. 112, no. 115, pl. LXVIII, 2-3. A related head on the Trentham Lady in the British Museum (inv. 1907,1214.1) shows a similar hair-type with wide flat head band, veil drawn up over the back, and a swelling for a bun at the back of her head. She gazes down and to the left in a similar pose. The modest and pius lady, or Pudicitia-type was a popular sculptural type in Roman times. Several life-size statues are known dating from the 1st Century B.C. to 3rd Century A.D., from all over the Roman empire. Probably the most well-known being the Herculaneum Woman with her distinctive melon-coiffure. For other figures cf. M. Bierber, Ancient Copies, New York, 1977, figs. 611-622.