Graeco-Parthian Marble Head of a Divinity

2ND CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

4 1/2 in. (639 grams, 11.6 cm).

An alabaster bust of a goddess with elongated face and large almond-shaped eyes; braided hair with openwork topknot and socket to accept an inset stud, gathered at the rear in a chignon.

Provenance

Acquired early 1990s.
Ex private American collection; thence by descent.
Private Swiss collection since 1998.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11611-199026.

Literature

Cf. Legrain, L., 'Small Sculptures from Babylonian Tombs' in The Museum Journal XIX, no.2 (June, 1928), pp.195-212, fig.2.

Footnotes

Several female figures, found in the Parthian graves of Babylonia, are represented in loose attire exhibiting strange headdresses, which give us some notion of the costume of the period. Some of them show a headgear rising into two tall conical peaks, from which a veil is suspended. Nude female figures, probably representing Assyrian Mylitta or Venus, were extremely common during the Parthian period, having been handed down from antiquity. Similar figures are universal throughout the east before the Christian era.

CONDITION

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LOT 0059