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_900x900.jpg "Roman Marble Head of a Woman")
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_900x900.jpg "Roman Marble Head of a Woman")
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LOT 0151
Roman Marble Head of a Woman
3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.
15 3/8 in. (8.45 kg, 39 cm high).
Carved in three-quarter view, with hair dressed in a chignon with frontal band and wavy segments; soft facial features with much detailing remaining to the proper right eye and mouth; likely a frieze fragment; mounted on an old collector's display stand with typed label 'Marble, woman's head / Egypt / C.25-100 A.D. / Cat.No. 6169'.
ProvenanceAcquired in trade from the San Franciscanum Museum, Israel, prior to 1980.
with Archaeologia, pre 1983, Switzerland and Canada.
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 search certificate number no.12964-242755.
Cf. Wessel K., ‘Römische Frauenfrisuren von der severischen bis zur konstantinischen Zeit,’ in Archäologischer Anzeiger, 61/62 (1946-47); Meischner J., Das Frauenporträt der Severzeit, Berlin, 1964, pp. 20 ss.; Buccino L., ‘Morbidi capelli e acconciature sempre diverse,’ in La Rocca, E., Parisi Presicce, C. con Lo Monaco, A. (a cura di), Ritratti. Le tante facce del potere (catalogo della mostra, Roma, Musei Capitolini, 10 marzo- 25 settembre 2011)', Roma 2011, pp. 360-383; Scarpati G., ‘Ritratto femminile,’ and Fileri, E., ‘Ritratto femminile,’ in Gasparri C. e Paris, R. (ed.), Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Le Collezioni, Milano, 2013, n. 131, p.193; n. 266, p.366; the present example shows close similarities with the portrait of a young woman in the Prado Museum, in Barrón, E., Catálogo de la escultura. Museo Nacional de Pintura y Escultura, Madrid, 1908, pp.244, no.362, dated to 225-256 A.D.
FootnotesThe arrangement of the hair is characteristic of female portraits dating between the late Severan and Tetrarchic periods. The head, due to the treatment of the hair, finds comparisons with a female portrait in the Museo Nazionale Romano, depicting an elderly woman of the Antonine era, and with another female portrait in the same museum, dated to the third decade of the 3rd century A.D., reworked in the Tetrarchic period, and which showed a Severan so-called Nest Frisur hairstyle. The sculpture in question can therefore be dated between the full 3rd century A.D. and the first decades of the 4th century A.D. based on the hairstyle, the shape of eyes and eyebrows.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0151
Roman Marble Head of a Woman
Estimate £6,000 - 8,000€6,960 - 9,280 (for guidance only)$8,100 - 10,800 (for guidance only)
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Roman Bronze Bacchus Mount with Silver Inlay
1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
The god of wine shown with grotesque features and stern expression, neatly arranged long beard, short horns and vine-leaf crown resting on the brow. 28.6 grams, 44 mm
Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Roman Bronze Ligula Spoon
2nd-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Round-section tapering stem and ovoid bowl. 15.56 grams, 16.6 cm
Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Large Late Roman Mosaic with Inlaid Glass Birds
6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £149,500
Rectangular panel of decorative mosaic tesserae comprising: wave pattern border in cream and graduated blue-grey tesserae with darker outer edge; inner border of graduated maroon and dark blue-grey tesserae; central field with two inner rows of four and two outer rows of five parakeets in various standing and perching poses, each formed from blue and green glass tesserae with white, crimson and other detailing to the eye, beak and chest; embedded in a sturdy steel-framed matrix of traditional mid 20th century type. 2.12 x 2.05 m
with Leon Simard, 1960s, Montreal, Canada. Archaeologia Gallery, 1980s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12966-244460.
The design of repeated birds against a neutral field is similar to patterns found on Late Roman and Sassanian textiles of roughly the same date, especially silk and wool textiles woven on more mechanised looms. Birds of all varieties appear frequently in floor mosaics and other arts of the Roman period; however, beribboned birds are rare.
