This enchanting fragment of a female face is all the more intriguing because of its fractured form. The nature of the break, running from the center of the forehead, down one side of the nose and through the mouth, to preserve only the proper left side of the face, gives the illusion of a profile view. Portraits in bronze from the ancient world are exceedingly rare, since the majority were melted down in later antiquity. The incomplete nature of the present portrait underscores this fact, offering us only a mere glimpse of the subject; no doubt once a prominent individual in society, her identity now obscured by the missing pieces.

The eye is delicately rendered, with a crisp, heavy eyelid, and the pupil and iris are delineated through the use of incision. The eyebrow is also finely detailed, the individual hairs incised to create a full, feathered effect framing the eye. The young woman has high cheekbones, her nose with prominent ridge and slight downward curvature, and a subtly downturned mouth. The remaining portion of the subject’s hair reveals part of what would have been an elaborate coiffure; the section framing the face comprises wavy locks pulled back, behind which are two narrow, and one slightly wider, braids, that would have presumably encircled the head, forming a braided bun. The hairstyle resembles what scholars have termed the ‘turban coiffure,’ particularly popular in the mid-second century AD and again in the early fourth century. It has been suggested that the so-called ‘turban coiffure’ exhibited here was associated with esteemed women of high virtue, either priestesses, or elite women who chose to adopt the hairstyle because of its similarities with the headdress worn by the Vestal Virgins. It therefore connoted the virtue of castitas, expressing the modesty, chastity, morality, and altogether elevated status of its proponent.

Provenance

General Amourel, Marseille (acquired by 1912)

Private Collection (by descent from the above)

Sale: Million Riviera Nice, June 6, 2018, lot 147

Private Collection