• r2-100-10
    Female head with crown, frontal view. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • r2-100-20
    Female head with crown, right profile view. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Female Head with Crown

Date
Hellenistic
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
S63.009
Material
Marble, Stone
Object Type
Sculpture
Sculpture Type
Mythological Figure, Human Figure
Site
Sardis
Sector
Syn
Trench
Syn 63
Locus
Syn MH Spolia
B-Grid Coordinates
E42.5 / N9.5 *97.25 - 97
Findspot
Syn (apse, among fallen marble blocks).
Description

Thick heavy hair, parted in middle, flows out to the sides in waves which push right ear forward and partly cover left ear. Of the loose tresses only a small portion of one is preserved behind right ear. Waves at back of head, incised with less care, were wound into a bun, now missing. From this bun rose a diadem, plain and rounded, with a narrow differentiated band at lower front section. The hair is skillfully shown to bunch out around it. Preserved left eye, carved with raised rims, is long and narrow; inner corner, with tear duct, is deeper. Iris is shown as shallow half-moon above the center. Left cheek smooth, ears well formed.

Chisel work is excellent with no trace of drill. The type shows an Argive goddess, perhaps Hera, from the early classical period. Our head is a good copy of the late Hellenistic period.

Condition

White marble.

Most of right side of face missing, also entire lower portion of head. Top of diadem broken away. Cement traces from reuse.

Dimensions
H. 0.19; W. 0.20; Th. 0.22; Left of eye 0.033.
Comments
See Also
Bibliography
Author
NHR