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Details
LOT 0058
Hellenistic Terracotta Head of a Woman
3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.
4 3/4 in. (499 grams, 12.3 cm wide).
Hollow-formed with flared neck, moulded face with shallow lentoid eyes, snub nose and wide mouth with enigmatic smile; band of hair framing the face.
Provenance
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Literature
Cf. similar in Metropolitan Museum of Art under accession no.23.160.95, for type.
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The face-veiling gesture is a known marriage rite; the diadem may suggest that she is intended to represent Persephone. Alternatively, the veiled woman might be a dancer as many terracotta figurines of dancing women are shown with face-coverings. However, the floral ornaments could indicate a funeral or sepulchral context.
