Museum/Current place of storage: |
Storerooms of the (former) 3rd Ephorate of Antiquities. |
Inv. no: |
- |
Dimensions: |
|
Material: |
H. 0,115m. |
Findspot: |
In Athens, in 1966, during excavation at the Karamousoudakis plot, at the junction of Argous and Monastiriou streets. The plot, located outside the city walls, faced the right side of the parallel to the Dromos (the wide processional road that linked the Dipylon to the gymnasium of the Academy) narrower carriage road, that started at a junction of the Iera Odos and ended again at the gymnasium of the Academy (see E. Greco ed. Topografia di Atene 4. Ceramico, Dipylon e Accademia, Atene-Paestum 2014, 1423-1433 [61 και 62; D. Marchiandi]; for the location of the plot, in which a hydraulic installation (of a workshop?) was also excavated, see ibid. 1442, fig. 940). |
Original Display Location: |
Probably from a funerary monument facing the right side of the parallel to the Dromos carriage road towards the Academy (the exact dating of the hydraulic installation found in the same plot, as well as its relation to the portable finds of the excavation is not clear). |
Date: |
Ca. 140 CE. |
Statuary Type (body) : |
- |
Mode of Self-Representation (head): |
The coiffure follows contemporary imperial fashion protypes (“Modefrisur”), while the face is idealized. |
Civic Presence (Social Role Represented): |
Unknown. |
Inscribed Base: |
No. |
Author: |
Panagiotis Konstantinidis |
Added: |
2024-09-11 |
Edited: |
 Β1e.jpg)
Description - Comments:
Only the front part of the head with the left ear is preserved. The entire left cheek, chin, and most of the side and upper parts of the head are missing. It depicts a young woman with a plump oval face, smooth cheeks, long and thin eyebrows, large almond-shaped eyes with wide lids, and a narrow mouth with full lips. The iris and pupil (shield-shaped; see P. Konstantinidis, Γυναικείοι δυναστικοί εικονιστικοί ανδριάντες αυτοκρατορικής περιόδου από την Ελλάδα [τέλη 1ου αι. π.Χ. – 5ος αι. μ.Χ.], Athens 2024, 397-398, notes 524 and 531) of the eyes, as well as the tear-duct are marked. The headdress is divided into two sections. Around the face, the mass of hair, divided into two equal parts at the top of the forehead, is combed with slight waves towards the temples, leaving the ears uncovered. In the upper part of the head, five braids, gradually getting smaller, form a “tower”-like bun in the form of an open “turban”. The texture of the individual locks of hair on the surface of the braids is rendered with incised triangles and lines. The head belongs to a wider group of portraits dating to the transition between the late Hadrianic and the early Antonine period (see Fittschen – Zanker 1983, 65-66 in cat. no. 86; Chioti 2012, 137), which combine Hadrianic and Antonine features, i.e. a “tower”-like “turban” that does not widen upwards, combined with a mass of flat wavy locks of hair that frames the face (cf. also the head {Γ40} from the Asklepieion of Athens). As the study of the headdress and the stylistic analysis by E. Chioti (2012, 137-138) have shown, the portrait belongs to the early Antonine period, probably to the 140s CE.
Bibliography:
O. Alexandri, “Γ´ Εφορεία Κλασσικών Αρχαιοτήτων Αθηνών. Άργους και Μοναστηρίου”, ArchDelt 22 (1967), Β1, 56, pl. 71α; J-P. Michaud, “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques en Grèce en 1968 et 1969”, BCH 94 (1970), 894 fig. 27; H. von Heintze, “Ein spätantikes Mädchenporträt in Bonn. Zur stilistischen Entwicklung des Frauenbildnisses im 4. und 5. Jahrhundert”, JAC 14 (1971), 80 note 57; 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, 65 no. 86 (n) (K. Fittschen); I. Chioti, Αυτοκρατορικά και ιδιωτικά πορτρέτα της εποχής των Αντωνίνων στην Ελλάδα (PhD thesis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Thessaloniki 2012, 137-138, 328-329, cat. no. 162, pl. 129α (portrait with Hadrianic elements).