20. Egyptian sculptor's model of a woman wearing a tripartite wig, Late Dynastic Period - early Ptolemaic Period, c.350-300 BC
Limestone
Dimensions: 18.6 x 15.4 x 4cm
11801 IVP
£ 18,000
Most likely a trial piece, this fragment is carved on both sides from very fine-grained, almost chalky limestone. One side in particularly high relief, shows the upper half of a...
Most likely a trial piece, this fragment is carved on both sides from very fine-grained, almost chalky limestone. One side in particularly high relief, shows the upper half of a female figure in profile. She wears a tripartite wig, a knot with two ribbons falling from the back of her head indicates she is wearing a hand band. Her facial features, noticeably her cheeks and jaw are softly rendered, her slanted eye is outlined with an extended make-up line, her lips are full. Her left arm reaches forward whilst the right hangs by her side, her breast is rounded and there is a curved line indicating she wears a long-sleeved dress., On the reverse is a male head in profile wearing a wig, surrounded by three ears, all carved in sunk relief. The surface shows areas of dendritic staining. An old collection number written to one edge in black ink 'CV-8-2'. Broken around the edges, the surface worn, otherwise intact.
Provenance
Victor Emile Gabriel Chevallier (1889-1969) and his wife Marguerite Jeanne Verel (1887-1962), France; recorded in their inventory as no.2
Mr. X, France; by descent from the above in 1969, thence by descent through two estates
