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© Bruce M. White, 2011.
Portrait Head of a Ptolemaic Queen
© Bruce M. White, 2011.
© Bruce M. White, 2011.
© Bruce M. White, 2011.
ClassificationsGreek and Roman Art

Portrait Head of a Ptolemaic Queen

CultureGreek
PeriodHellenistic
Date3rd-2nd Century BCE
MediumMarble (Pentelikon)
Credit LineEx Brummer Collection, donated by the Brummer-Laszlo Family
Dimensions12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm)
Object number1998.013.001
Label TextWhen first carved, this portrait depicted a woman with wavy hair that was centrally parted and formed into rolls on either side of her head to be gathered in a bun on the nape of the neck. This hairstyle, which derived from representations of goddesses, was adopted during the Hellenistic period for portraits of the female rulers of Egypt’s Ptolemaic dynasty. Together with the idealized facial features, this suggests that the head may originally have depicted either Arsinoe II Philadelphos (316-269 BC), wife of Ptolemy II Philadelphos, or Arsinoe III ( ca. 325-203 BC), wife of Ptolemy IV Philopator. At some point in antiquity, however, the head was modified to accommodate a headdress. The hair was reduced in volume and flattened in a band around the top of the head. Deep holes were also drilled above each ear, at the back and on each side of the top of the head to support what was probably a large metal crown; small holes around the center of the flattened section perhaps also helped secure the headdress. The combination of centrally parted hair with either a crown or a broad flat diadem is a feature of portraits of later Ptolamaic queens including Cleopatra I (ca. 215-176 BC) and Cleopatra VII (ca. 69-30 BC). The practice of reworking royal portraits, in part driven by a lack of local Egyptian marble, may also have evoked politically advantageous associations with respected ancestors.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, October 1999 - August 2000
From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny and Transformation in Roman Portraiture, Michael C. Carlos Museum, September 16, 2000 - January 7, 2001
From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny and Transformation in Roman Portraiture, Yale University Art Gallery, January 31 - March 25, 2001
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, June 2006 - August 26, 2013
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 25, 2013 - Present
Published ReferencesThe Ernest Brummer Collection: Ancient Art Vol. II (Zurich: Galerie Koller, 1979), 232-33, number 629.
MCCM Newsletter, November - December 1999
Eric R. Varner, From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny and Transformation in Roman Portraiture (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2000), 88-89, Catalog No. 2
ProvenanceWith Brummer Gallery, Paris, France, purchased from Theodoros A. Zoumpoulakis, Athens, Greece, Summer 1923. Transferred to Brummer Gallery, New York, New York, November 1923. With Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 11-14, 1949 (Second Auction). Ex coll. Ernest Brummer (1891-1964), New York, New York, by 1964. With Galerie Koller, Zurich, Switzerland, October 16 -19, 1979. Ex coll. Ella Brummer (1900-1999), New York, New York.
Status
On view
Collections
  • Greek and Roman Art