Roman Portrait of a Woman in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, October 2009

Portrait of a woman
Roman, Imperial Period, about A.D. 120

Dimensions: Height x length (of face): 31 x 17.7 cm (12 3/16 x 6 15/16 in.)

Medium or Technique: Marble, dolomitic marble from the Greek island of Thasos

Classification: Sculpture

Catalogue Raisonné: Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 349; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 115 (additional published references).

Accession Number: 03.744

The woman has full, round, and rather fine features. The hairstyle and carving of the eyebrows suggest a date for the head in the reign of the Emperor Domitian (A.D. 81-96), but the sharply delineated mouth and eyelids suggest that this is most likely a work executed under the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138).

Her hair is carried high above the forehead in irregular, wavy strands deeply worked with the drill. It is gathered into a large knot behind, ...below the crown. A small lock falls on either side of the neck. The Irises and pupils are not rendered in sculpture, although incised lines indicate the hair of the eyebrows.

The head has been broken off at the base of the neck. The upper part of the hair over the forehead was made separately and is missing. The tip of the nose has been restored in plaster.

Scientific Analysis:

Marble has been scientifically tested with X-Ray Diffraction and determined to be Dolomitic.

Harvard Lab No. HI359: Isotope ratios - delta13C +3.52 / delta18O -3.59, Attribution - Thasos-Cape Vathy, Justification - Dolomitic by XRD.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/portrait-of-a-woman-151344