Roman, Eastern Empire, late Imperial Period, ca. 4th to 5th century CE. A wonderful, attractive, and expressive example of a female head in provincial stylization that is hand-carved from light gray marble bearing integral dark gray and beige veining throughout the composition. Exhibiting smoothly polished surfaces and a refined presentation, the head features a heart-shaped visage bearing thick lidded, almond-shaped eyes, gently rounded cheeks above shallow nasolabial folds and flanking a puffy nose, a wide mouth with full lips and a delineated philtrum, and a strong, rounded chin. Her centrally parted coiffure consists of several bangs swept back along her temples and covering her ears until culminating in a central, tightly spiraled bun along the verso. Ample marine encrustations and coral patches have accrued across the surfaces and suggest that this head was submerged for decades if not centuries on end. A wonderful and intact example! Size: 8.25" L x 5.375" W x 6.875" H (21 cm x 13.7 cm x 17.5 cm); 10.875" H (27.6 cm) on included custom stand.

Marble statuary, reliefs, and cladding were ubiquitous in the Roman world, as the remains of the preserved cities at Herculaneum and Pompeii demonstrate. Their sculpture was intended to conjure human vitality, and was inspired by the works of Polykleitos, who became the model to which sculptors aspired in Greco-Roman as well as later Western European art. Greco-Roman statuary, unlike that of the other Mediterranean civilizations like Egypt, Persia, etc., celebrated the naturalistic human form. This included representations of their gods and the elite, who appear dressed as ordinary, living citizens. This suggests an intriguing, more personal relationship with the gods rather than the more abstract or magical portrayals of other contemporary societies. This head may have been part of a public display like the Severan-period Septizodium, the monumental fountain built to honor the imperial family, and which had a three-story columnar face decorated with portraits of various gods and goddesses.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private Connecticut, USA estate, acquired in the 1980s; reputedly from Denny Pinkus, Tel Aviv, Israel

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#170854

This is a fragment of a larger marble sculpture as shown with losses to body below neckline. Minor nicks and pitting to face, neckline, coiffure, and bun on verso, with extensive calcifications and marine encrustations, and minor softening to some finer details, otherwise intact and excellent. Great surface polishing in some areas, and nice preservation to expressive visage!