Roman Marble Head of A Matron

This life-sized marble portrait of exceptional workmanship represents a mature woman in a highly realistic style reflecting every single detail of the individual physiognomy. Especially noticeable is the triangular shape of the face tapering toward the heavy and slightly protruding chin. The narrow forehead is crossed by two long creases revealing the woman’s age, same as the deep naso-labial furrows and the furrows at the corners of her narrow lips. The almond-shaped eyes with heavy lids are deeply set below the long thin eyebrows.

The unidealized, wrinkled face of the Roman lady is not particularly pretty, while her hairstyle is attracting attention with its elaborate design. The well-combed hair is parted in the center; the long strands are pulled above and behind the ears, the rest is pulled back where it is collected in four loose tresses on each side, all incorporated into one central plait ending in a coiled bun on top of her head. There are two short curls falling at the back of her creased neck. Such a design was introduced into the Roman female fashion by the Empress Sabina, the wife of Hadrian, and continued through the hairstyle favored by the following Empress Faustina the Elder, the wife of Antoninus Pius. Roman coins struck after her death in A.D. 141, accompanied with the title Diva (deified), represent her prominent profile with the hairstyle of this type, demonstrating a complex series of braids which are richly adorned with the interlacing strings of beads. The imperial hairstyles were widely copied by the court ladies and formed the trend, which was readily followed by many other women of the Roman Empire.

Surface weathered and covered with encrustation; broken in the neck; the nose is broken off; chin damaged; dents at the eyelids, eyebrows, coiffure; a vertical fissure on the proper left side.

Ex- private collection, Munich, 1970’s.

FITTSCHEN K., Courtly Portraits of Women in the Era of the Adoptive Emperors (98-180 A.D.) and their Reception in Roman Society, in KLEINER D., MATHESON S. B., eds., I Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome, New Haven, 1996.

FITTSCHEN K., ZANKER P., Katalog der römischen Porträts in der Kapitolinischen Museen under den anderen kommunalen Summlungen der Stadt Rom, Vol. III: Kaiserinnenbildnissse und Frauenporträts, Mainz am Rhein, 1983, pp. 13-20, nos. 13-18, pls. 15-23.

JOHANSEN F., Catalogue: Roman Portraits II, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, 1995, pp. 192-193.

KLEINER D. E. E., Roman Sculpture, New Haven, London, pp. 277-278, fig. 245.