Portrait Head

Portrait Head

Marble

This head probably originally belonged to a Medici Venus type of statue of Aphrodite with her arms shielding, or perhaps drawing attention to, her breasts and genitals. The Medici Venus was possibly a 1st century BC Athenian copy of a bronze original deriving in turn from the 4th century BC Cnidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles. Like the head of the Medici Venus, this head is tilted to the right. The hairstyle is also similar: the wavy strands are parted in the centre and gathered into a bun at the back, with loose curls at the top. There is also a ribbon tied around the head. The gaze is abstracted and the lips parted revealing the tip of the tongue or perhaps teeth. The marble is white with fine grey veins and fine crystals. The surface is worn, with repairs to the tip of the nose, the brow and lids of the right eye, a crack across the left cheek and a crack that runs down the centre of the forehead, the left side of the nose, continuing down to the chin. This head may once have been in the collection of Clive of India.

Function:
The original from which this head ultimately derives was a cult statue by Praxiteles, the Cnidian Aphrodite; this copy was probably used as a Roman garden or house ornament.

Purchased from Charles Ede Ltd, London, with funds from the Friends of Antiquity and the Alumni Association, 1988

AD 100 - 200

88.016