Roman, A Roman marble fragmentary head of a sleeping woman, circa 2nd century AD

London Art Week : Summer 2021

2 - 16 July 2021

Roman

A Roman marble fragmentary head of a sleeping woman, circa 2nd century AD

Marble

Height: 23 cm

Further images

Preserving a female head in profile to the left, the thick wavy hair pulled back into a chignon and secured with a headband, with luscious locks of hair framing her...

Provenance

Private collection, acquired in Europe in the first half of the 20th century and brought to South America in 1950-1951; thence by descent

Private collection, Guadeloupe

Christie's, New York, 9 December 2010, lot 189

American private collection

Literature

This marble head with its incredibly intricate hair arrangement is rare, as it depicts a woman with her eyes shut, sleeping. Mythological subjects depicted asleep in Classical sculpture include Ariadne, the Hermaphrodite, Eros and Endymion. It is likely that this woman originally belonged to a large sculpture of just such a mythological subject. The style of the carving indicates a second century AD date. The closest example of a similar period is the Hadrianic sleeping Maenad or Hermaphrodite, at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (inv. no.261): LIMC Nr. 56i s.v. Hermaphroditos.

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London Art Week : Summer 2021

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