Only the upper part of the head up to the beginning of the cheeks is preserved. The eyebrows, nose, and partially the eyes are broken. Smaller breaks and chipping are evident sporadically on the surface of the marble. It depicts a woman with a broad forehead and large almond-shaped eyes with wide lids. The iris and pupil are indicated (they are better preserved on the left eye). The texture of the individual eyebrow hairs is rendered with dense small incisions. The hair is divided at the top of the forehead into two equal parts (the parting reaches the back of the head) which are combed in strong waves towards the sides and back of the head, where they are gathered into a bun. The width of the waves narrows as they reach the back. The texture of the individual locks on the surface of the marble is rendered with dense lunate incisions worked with the point. Small lunates locks of hair are left free on the surface of the face. The coiffure draws upon the fifth portrait type of Faustina the younger (152 CE), as well as the second portrait type of Lucilla (166 CE), placing the head in the third quarter of the 2nd c. CE (for the type see K. Fittschen, Die Bildnistypen der Faustina minor und die Fecunditas Augustae, Göttingen 1982, 43, 51-53, 78-80).
A. Datsouli-Stavridi, “Ρωμαϊκά πορτραίτα στο Μουσείο Σπάρτης”, in Πρακτικά του Α’ Τοπικού Συνεδρίου Λακωνικών Μελετών, Μολάοι 5-7 Ιουνίου 1982 (Peloponnesiaka Suppl. 9), Athens 1982-1983, 306-307; A. Datsouli-Stavridi, Ρωμαϊκά πορτραίτα στο Μουσείο της Σπάρτης, Athens 1987, 21, fig. 40; I. Chioti, Αυτοκρατορικά και ιδιωτικά πορτρέτα της εποχής των Αντωνίνων στην Ελλάδα (PhD thesis Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Thessaloniki 2012, 156, 349, cat. no. 195, pl. 159α (draws upon the fifth portrait type of Faustina the Younger and the second portrait type of Lucilla); Μ. Geivanidou, Εικονιστικοί ανδριάντες στα θέατρα των ρωμαϊκών ανατολικών επαρχιών, Thessaloniki 2021, 58, 174, cat. no. 91, pl. 11.3.
