LOT 0517

Egyptian Marble Head of a Queen

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 323-30 B.C.

4 in. (5 5/8 in.) (313 grams total, 10 cm high (14.3 cm high including stand)).

Modelled in the half-round in Hellenistic style with a stephane and centre-parted hair, serene facial features including hooded eyes and pert lips; mounted on a custom-made wooden display stand.

Ex Hanna Saba collection, Ambassador to Egypt-USA-France (1909-1992).
Private European collection.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12083-218194.

See Walker S., Higgs, P., Cleopatra Regina d’Egitto, Milano, 2000; Walker, S., Higgs, P., Cleopatra of Egypt, from History to the Myth, London, 2001; for discussion see Berman, L.M., The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Egyptian Art, New York, 1999; Andrews, C., van Dijk, J., Objects for Eternity: Egyptian Antiquities from the W. Arnold Meijer Collection, Mainz am Rhein, 2006.

The head is similar to various portraits of Ptolemaic queens, some of them identified as belonging to the famous Berenice II (246-222 B.C.), some others to Cleopatra VII Philopator (69-30 BC), the lover of Julius Caesar, the spouse of Mark Anthony and the last Queen of Egypt. The analogies with Berenike II’s portrait are noteworthy, especially with the portrait in the Cairo Museum (inv.JE 39517): the diadem and its position on the top of the head, similar physical features, and similar roundness of the cheeks.