SCULPTURE

Female portrait head Γ30

  Museum/Current place of storage: Athens, Acropolis Museum.
  Inv. no: 309
  Dimensions:
  Material: H. 0,11m., w. 0,042m., th. 0,092m.
  Findspot:

On the Acropolis (?; cf. {https://achaeanwomen.eie.gr/γλυπτό/?statue_id=532}).

  Original Display Location: In the sanctuary of the Acropolis (?).
  Date: Late Trajanic – early Hadrianic period.
  Statuary Type (body) : -
  Mode of Self-Representation (head):

The coiffure follows contemporary fashion protypes (“Modefrisur”); the face is not preserved.

  Civic Presence (Social Role Represented): Unknown.
  Inscribed Base: No.
  Author: Panagiotis Konstantinidis
  Added: 2024-09-08
  Edited:

Description - Comments:

Only a small section of the upper part of the head, with the headdress, is preserved. The latter consists of five parallel and overlapping braids that cover the surface of the skull, while a thicker braid is wrapped around their base. This arrangement is reminiscent of the “open-nest” or tower-shaped “turban” headdresses of the periods of Trajan and Hadrian (cf. K. Fittschen, P. Zanker, Katalog der römischen Porträts in der Capitolinischen Museen und den anderen kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom III, Mainz am Rhein 1983, cat. no. 100, cat. no. 92, pls. 102-103; also here the heads {Γ40}, {Γ58}, {Γ85}, {Γ101}).

Bibliography:

G. Dontas, Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani. Greece I.1 Les portraits attiques au Musée de l'Acropole, Athènes 2004, 58, cat. no. 30, pl. 25.