Egyptian portrait bust of a queen in the guise of Isis, Ptolemaic Period, 2nd-1st Century BC
Marble
Height 30cm
9449
Sold
The face with idealising features, her heavily lidded almond-shaped eyes and slightly parted lips set in an oval face which is framed by hair arranged in corkscrew curls, leaving her pierced ears exposed. A flat groove circles her head where a diadem would have held the hair in place. The faint ghost of painted pupils remains.
Some chips in particular affecting the tip of the nose and lower lip. A section of corkscrew curls missing from right side of face and some loss to back of head. Hairline crack across left side of neck made good.
Some chips in particular affecting the tip of the nose and lower lip. A section of corkscrew curls missing from right side of face and some loss to back of head. Hairline crack across left side of neck made good.
Provenance
Munzen und Medaillen, Basel, Auktion 40, 13th December 1969, lot 168Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, USA; 1970s
James Alsdorf (1913-1990), Winnetka, Illinois, USA
The Galleries at La Jolla, California, USA, sold June 19th 1981
Joan B. Kroc (1928-2003), San Diego, California, USA; thence by descent
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA; acquired from Charles Ede in 2016, accession number 2016.231
Literature
Compare a head of Berenike II from the Tell Timai group in the British Museum; S. Walker and P. Higgs, Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth (London, 2001), p. 49, no. 11
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