FLAVIAN PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF A WOMAN
FLAVIAN PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 1ST CENTURY A.D.
5 1/8 in. (13 cm.) high

Provenance

Documented in a photograph sent from Lugwig Pollak (1868-1943) to Salomon Reinach (1858-1932), preserved in the Fonds Reinach, Bibliothèque de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art, Paris.
Private Collection, France.
A French Private Collector; Antiquities, Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1995, lot 167.
Private Collection, U.K., acquired from the above.
The Stanford Place Collection of Antiquities, Christie's, London, 26 April 2006, lot 47.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, acquired from the above (Art of the Ancient World, vol. XVIII, 2007, no. 21).
Antiquities, Christie's, London, 6 October 2011, lot 130.
Private collection, Oregon.
Property from an Oregon Private collection; Antiquities, Christie's, New York, 12 April 2022, lot 96.

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Depicting a mature woman, the sitter is portraited with signs of age, including heavy-lidded eyes, sunken cheeks and prominent naso-labial folds. Her elaborate coiffure of center-parted wavy hair is pulled back, braided and then coiled into a bun at the back of her head. This hairstyle confirms the Flavian date for this portrait. For a similar example, see the portrait in Copenhagen at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, no. 69 in F. Johansen, Katalog Romerske Portrætter II.

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