A Hellenistic marble portrait head of a woman
Circa 3rd-2nd Century B.C.
Probably a Ptolemaic queen, with softly modelled facial features, her hair centrally-parted and roughly carved, likely finished in stucco, her neck with a 'Venus ring', a drilled mortise in the back of her head for attachment of her stucco hair or headdress, 11in (28cm) high, mounted
Circa 3rd-2nd Century B.C.
Probably a Ptolemaic queen, with softly modelled facial features, her hair centrally-parted and roughly carved, likely finished in stucco, her neck with a 'Venus ring', a drilled mortise in the back of her head for attachment of her stucco hair or headdress, 11in (28cm) high, mounted
Sold for
£10,625
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Provenance:
Property from The Haggin Museum, Stockton, California.
American private collection, acquired from Royal-Athena Galleries, May 14th 1994.
With Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, Art of the Ancient World, vol. IV, 1985, no. 139.
Swiss art market, Zurich, October 1984.
Literature:
For a similar portrait of a Ptolemaic queen tentatively identified as Arsinoe III, cf. inv. 1998.23.10 in The Yale University Art Gallery. This too shows the softly modelled features typical of 3rd Century Ptolemaic sculpture and has also lost much of her hair, which would have been completed in stucco in antiquity. For other examples and general discussion, cf. H Kyrieleis, Bildnisse der Ptolemaer, Berlin, 1975.
Category: Antiquities
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