Head of a Woman

Object Details

• Description

  Head of a female, carved from transluscent alabaster. Highly modelled, probably meant to be viewed only from the front. The facial features are rendered in detail. The eyes and eyebrows are recessed to receive inlay. The ears lie flat against the head, with some schematic incised interior detail. The nose is straight, with slight indication of nostrils, and the mouth is represented by a thin grooved incision between two modelled lips. The hair is represented as parallel grooves which radiate from the head on square background field. The head rests on a straight, semicyclindrical neck which is perpendicular to head under chin.

• Provenance

  To 1966

  Joseph H. Hirshhorn (1899-1981). [1]

  From 1966 to 1986

  Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. [2]

  From 1986

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, transferred from Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See document from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, object file, Collections Management Office. For further discussion, see also Curatorial Remark 4 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1. See also object file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Facing East: Portraits from Asia (July 1 to September 4, 2006)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Joseph H. Hirshhorn (1899-1981)

  Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

• Origin

  Yemen

• Credit Line

  Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn to the Smithsonian Institution

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s

• Name

  Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Hirshhorn, Joseph H.

• Topic

  Art, Ancient Near Eastern Art, Portraits, Woman, Stone, Yemen

• Culture

  Middle Easterners

• Object Type

  Sculpture