With a round face featuring large eyes, a narrow nose that broadens at the end, and full lips downturned at the corners, the forehead has a distinctive deep furrow above the brow; a narrow, twisted diadem encircling his wavy hair; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Bern, Switzerland.
with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12631-236408.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

LITERATURE:
Cf. Ashton, S.-A., Ptolemaic Royal Sculpture from Egypt, BAR International Series 923, Oxford, 2001, p.68, no. 3.2, for another small steatite head in the Petrie Museum (UC 49930) featuring a similar rounded face, wavy hair, and a twisted diadem, dated to the 1st century B.C.

FOOTNOTES:
The Greek hairstyle is a characteristic feature of Ptolemaic royal portraiture, as is the twisted diadem - a Greek interpretation of the Egyptian headband (the sšd) - which appears on several portrait heads of Ptolemaic boy-kings and princes. The distinctive furrow is intriguing, as it contrasts with the typically blemish-free physiognomy of most Ptolemaic royal sculpture. However, a similar furrow can be seen on the portrait head of a provincial governor from Dendera, dated to the 2nd century B.C. (Bothmer, B.V., Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period 700 B.C. to A.D. 100, New York, 1960, pp. 144-143, pl. 112, nos. 301-302), which may indicate an artistic trend employed in high-status sculpture at that time.
It has been suggested that small royal portrait heads, such as this example, may have served as votives. The lack of an Egyptian-style back pillar on this and similar pieces supports the possibility that they were inserted into statues made of different materials (Ashton, S.-A., Ptolemaic Royal Sculpture from Egypt, BAR International Series 923, Oxford, 2001, p.12).