Head of a Woman

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.

Historical period(s)
300 BCE -99 CE
Medium
Calcite travertine
Dimensions
H x W x D: 22.4 x 14.7 x 9 cm (8 13/16 x 5 13/16 x 3 9/16 in)
Geography
Yemen
Credit Line
Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn to the Smithsonian Institution
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Accession Number
S1986.510
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Sculpture, Stone
Type

Portrait bust

Keywords
portrait, woman, Yemen
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.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Joseph H. Hirshhorn 1899-1981

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.

Label

Numerous often stylized memorial portraits have been excavated in the cemeteries of Southern Arabia, mainly in the Wadi Beihan and the area of the ancient Qataban Empire (modern Yemen) that flourished between the 5th century BCE and the 1st century CE. Close parallels to this head are in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History where the remainder of the Hirshhorn collection is today. An updated bibliography on alabaster statues and fragments found throughout modern Yemen can be found in Sabina Antonini, and Mounir Arbach, La statuaria sudarabica in pietra. Rome and Paris (2001). This head stems most likely from the vast cemeteries of ancient Tamna.

Collection Area(s)
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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