Roman marble portrait of a young aristocratic lady

R68

£1,600.00

Sold

A marble portrait head of a young lady with an elaborate plaited coiffure. Her hair is parted in the middle above her forehead and combed in waves towards the back where it is plaited and coiled into five ascending rows terminating in a topknot tied above the nape.

This elaborate coiffure was worn by Domitia Lucilla, the mother of Marcus Aurelius as well as the emperor’s sister Annia Corrificia Faustina. Thus this portrait can be dated to a period when the wealthy elite of Rome copied the court fashions of the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

Culture
Roman, mid 2nd Century AD

Size
11.9 x 7.5 cms, 18.6 cms including stand

Condition
Repairs to the lower part of the head and general losses as seen in the photographs

Provenance
Ex. private collection, UK; acquired by family inheritance. Formerly collected by Joseph Duncan Steel (born Southampton, UK, 1910) or subsequently Roberto Gnisci (born Rome, Italy, 1942). Mounted on a c. 1960’s solid wood display stand.

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