The head is preserved essentially intact, together with a large part of the neck. Small breaks and chipping are evident at the tip of the nose and the left ear, as well as sporadically on the surface of the hair. A slightly protruding almost rectangular mass of marble is left low on the surface of the neck sporting eight drill-holes in two rows; its exact purpose is unknown (perhaps it aimed to strengthen the fastening of the neck tenon into its insertion cavity on the statue’s body). The head depicts a young woman sporting a long smooth face, small mouth and narrow chin, turned slightly to the right. The eyes are large, almond-shaped, with thin eyelids and brows defined by sharp edges on the marble surface. The ears are rendered in detail. The existence of measurement points on the surface of the face mentioned by K. Romiopoulou is not confirmed by other researchers. The headdress is quite elaborate. The hair is plaited in overlapping braids that wrap around the skull creating an “open nest” tower-like turban held at the back by a kind of vertical tie (rendered as a roughly worked mass of marble divided into four parts by means of three parallel vertical grooves; inside the “turban” at the top of the skull the hair is left summarily rendered, worked roughly with the flat chisel). In front of the “turban”, the face is framed by three thinner braids that join at the top in a knot and take a flattened elongated form above it (μηνίσκος/meniscus - cf. the similar arrangement on the head Athens, National Archaeological Museum inv. no. 3550 from a house in the south slope of the Areios Pagos hill, dated to the late reign of Trajan – early reign of Hadrian, Kalavria 2015, 251-253, 282, cat. no. 94, pl. 94). The configuration on the front part of the head is inspired by the iconography of Plotina, Trajan's wife (it is also found in private portraits of the early period of Hadrian), and in combination with the “turban” coiffure, the whole is reminiscent of similar coiffures from the period of Hadrian, being essentially their precursor (cf. e.g. the portrait-heads {Γ40} and {Γ85}; for the type see K. Fittschen, P. Zanker, Katalog der Capitolinischen Museen III, 1983, 61-62, cat. no. 83; K. Fittschen, “Nicht Sabina”, AA 2000, 507-514; G. Despinis, Th. Stephanidou-Tiveriou, E. Voutiras eds., Κατάλογος γλύπτών του Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου Θεσσαλονίκης ΙΙ, Thessaloniki 2003, 169-172, cat. nos. 279-280 with bibliography [Th. Stephanidou–Tiveriou]; K. Fittschen, “Über die Haartrachten von Kaiserinnen und Bürgerinnen in der mittleren Kaiserzeit”, ÉtTrav 25 [2012], esp. 110-111 with bibliography), lead to the dating of the sculpture in the late principate of Trajan (see in detail Kalavria 2015, 239-240; Tasopoulou 2018, 59-60).
P. Kastriotis, Γλυπτά του Εθνικού Μουσείου: κατάλογος περιγραφικός, Athens 1908, 371, no. 2313; A. Datsouli-Stavridi, Ρωμαϊκά πορτραίτα στο Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο της Αθήνας, Athens 1985, 41-42, no. 2313, pls. 37-38 (reign of Trajan); K. Romiopoulou, Ελληνορωμαϊκά γλυπτά του Εθνικού Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου, Athens 1997, 72, cat. no. 71; N. Kaltsas ed., Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο. Τα γλυπτά. Κατάλογος, Athens 2001, 339, cat. no. 716; E. Kalavria, Αττικά πορτρέτα κατά την εποχή της ρωμαιοκρατίας (1ος αι. π.Χ. - αρχ. 2ου αι. μ.Χ.), ζητήματα τυπολογίας, λειτουργίας και παραγωγής (PhD thesis National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Athens 2015, 238-240, 488, cat. no. 93, pl. 93; M. Tasopoulou, Το πορτρέτο της εποχής του Τραϊανού στην Ελλάδα (Master’s thesis Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Thessaloniki 2018, 59-60, 104, cat. no. 31 (late reign of Trajan).
