LOT 0194

Romano-British Marble Head of a Lady

CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

6 3/4 in. (1.6 kg total, 17 cm high including stand).

Carved in the round with fleshy facial features, almond-shaped eyes and small pouting mouth; the hair modelled with hollowed curls above the brow; mounted on a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]

Found Cambridgeshire, UK.
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Cf. similar in the collection of the British Museum, London under accession number 1973,0327.3; cf. Graham, F., Hadrian's Wall in the days of the Romans, Newcastle, 1984, pp.177-178; Clayton, P., A Companion to Roman Britain, Oxford, 1980, p.71, for similar style of sculptures; cf. Harley, E., Roman Life at the Yorkshire Museum, York, 1985, p.17, and De La Bédoyère, G., Roman Towns in Britain, London, 1993, p.118 (for similar hairstyle).

These kind of sculptures represented people or divinities of the Roman Britannia. They are found in several civilian tombstones, characterised by provincial style, that was enhanced by colouring which is absent today. The image here represented is a domina (a high-status middle-aged woman) in a typical hairstyle of 2nd-3rd century A.D. (Graham, 1984, p.222). In these provincial artworks the strong influence of the Celtic art is evident, especially in the eyes and hair of the sculpture.