Details

LOT 0116

Roman Marble Portrait Bust of an Aristocratic Woman

JULIO-CLAUDIAN PERIOD, CIRCA 50-60 A.D.

17 1/8 in. (37.35 kg total, 43.5 cm including stand).

A life-size bust showing the head turned slightly to the left, an expression of dignity on her face with broad cheeks and pronounced cheekbones, heavy eyelids with narrow eyes, gentle depressions around the full lips; hair arranged in tight curls leaving the ears exposed, small braids gathered and tied at the back with a double thong with two corkscrew curls falling on each side of the neck; the lower part of the neck framed by delicate folds of a tunic, palla covering her left shoulder; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Provenance

Professor Elia Volpi (1858-1938) collection, Florence, prior to 1910.
Vente de la Collection Elie Volpi; Hotel de Ventes Jandolo & Tavazzi, Florence, 25 April-3 May 1910, no.53, pl. XCII (illustrated).
Private collection, France, likely Château de Beaumesnil, near Rouen.
Provenant du Château de Beaumesnil et du Château de T...Objets d'Art et de Bel Ameublement Principalement du XVIIIe, Palais des Congres, Rouen, 20 February 1983.
Anonymous sale; Hindman, Chicago, 25 May 2023, no,194.
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale.

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.12768-237645.
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.

Published

Various, Illustrations du Catalogue des Précieuses Collections d'Objets d'Art Appartenant au Prof. Elie Volpi (Exhibition Catalogue), Florence, 1910, no.53; Various, La Gazette de L'Hôtel Drouot, edition 5 (Gazette), Paris, 4 February 1983, p.36; Freyer-Schauenburg, B., ‘Porträtbüste einer Dame in Schweizer Privatbesitz’ in Varkıvanç, B. (ed), Baki Öğün'e Armağan - Melanges offerts a Baki Öğün - CALBIS, Ankara, 2007, pp.97-108.

Literature

See similarity with portraits of Agrippina the Younger, in Uffizi (Firenze) in modern bust, inventory 1914 n.115; NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, inv. no.753 in Johansen, F., Catalog of Roman Portraits I, Copenhagen, 1994; see also the portraits of Agrippina in MANN (Napoli) inv.5609 and 5612, from Herculaneum; other similar portraits in Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) museum, inv.56.097; Palatine Hill (Antiquarium of Palatine Hill), Rome, inv. no.12447; compare the hairstyle and the profile with the British Museum sardonyx cameos (GB 1872.6-4.1992, gem 3951) representing the same empress.

Footnotes

This portrait is striking due to the delicate yet exotic features of the subject and her elaborate coiffure. The sculpture was produced during a formative and highly sophisticated phase of Roman art, and during a time when portraits of women are much less common than those from later Imperial times. The preparation for a patch at the back of the head is seemingly ancient. Although she remains anonymous, given the sculpture's scale and scope, one can assume it portrays a person of note, who wished to be represented with the ideal and distinctive features of a Roman aristocrat. For a comparable portrait bust, see Agrippina Minor at the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (Acc. no.755).