Colossal Head of a Matron
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
Unknown
Materials
Italian marble
Measurements
270 x 290 x 360 mm
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486352
Summary
Idealised marble portrait of a lady of the Emesene period, 2nd/3rd century AD, resembling Julia Mammaea. The head, more than twice life size, is inclined to the right, the gaze directed upward and has a distinctly Asiatic type of face with high cheek bones and slanting eyes. The hair is parted over the forehead and brushed to either side in large regular waves tucked behind the ears, then drawn into a plait which is carried up the back of the head to the crown.
Provenance
?Collected by Charles, 2nd Earl of Egremont, thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72), arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M. Treasury.
Marks and inscriptions
46 (painted on front of socle)