LOT 0145

Life-Size Roman Portrait Head of a Roman Lady, Possibly The Empress Salonina

LATE 3RD CENTURY A.D.

13 5/8 in. (16 kg, 34.5 cm).

Portrait head of a woman with an elaborate coiffure, with the hair at the back parted in the middle and the two strands folded over each other and then pulled to the front to form a looped horizontal layer, then parted in the middle of the forehead and drawn to the back of the head, thereby forming ripples; individual curls represented along the hairline up to the completely exposed ears; some modern infills to the forehead area above the left eye, both upper eyelids, both cheeks in the middle area, left nostril and the chin up to the lower lip; heavily cleaned.

Acquired on the Parisian art market.
with Bernard Tinivella, Saint-Ouen.

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.12464-228803.
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.

See Felletti Maj, B.M., Museo Nazionale Romano, I Ritratti, Roma, 1953; Bianchi Bandinelli, R., Roma: la fine dell’arte Antica, Milano, 1970; Scrinari, V.S.M., Sculture Romane di Aquileia, Roma,1972; similar portraits can be seen in Palazzo dei Conservatori, Roma, in Stuart Jones, H., A catalogue of the Ancient Sculptures preserved in the municipal collections of Rome, the sculptures of the Museo Capitolino, Oxford, 1912, pls.36,40,52,74 (fig.1); another one in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Inv. Nos. ГР-1707 / А. 29 (fig.2, from the John Lyde Browne collection).

The coiffure is known as 'Scheitelzopf hairstyle' or 'reverse plait'. The closest parallel for this hairstyle is a portrait bust in the Palazzo dei Conservatori (inv. no. 2767), which corresponds in every detail, including the various decorative curls. The same type of hairstyle, albeit with variations in the details (decorative curls and position of the hair loop), is found on a few other portraits of women that were dated to the Period of Gallienus by Marianne Bergmann. Some of the portraits in this typologically related group are likely to be private portraits. Nonetheless, the question must be raised as to whether the portrait shows a member of the imperial family. Hereby physiognomic features and especially imperial coin portraits need to be taken into account. In this context, it is important to note that both eyeballs were reworked, whereby the iris was completely erased. Furthermore, there are pick marks on the eyebrows, eyelids, nose, cheeks, mouth and chin (partly filled in modern times). If these were intentional changes made in the context of the practice of Damnatio memoriae, they would indicate that a lady from the imperial family was represented. The neck has been prepared for insertion into a sculpture.