DiscussionPortrait head of Empress. From the environs of Rome. Mid-fourth to mid-fifth century. DESCRIPTION (Object)Over life-size head. H: 28 cm. Fine-grained white marble. In the modern era the head was cut evenly through the top of the neck and mounted on an unrelated statue (now removed). The nose is restored, and the projecting elements at the top of the diadem are broken. There are chips in the right eyebrow, in the area under the left eye, and in the lips. The surface is worn. The pupils of the eyes are indicated by deep U-shaped depressions. The hair and diadem are rendered almost exclusively with a flat chisel. The twisted band below the diadem has engraved diagonal lines only at the front and right sides. PROVENANCE Formerly in the collection of the Count Siciliano di Gentili, Viterbo. From a late imperial monument and recorded in a collection in Viterbo, the head is likely to have come from Rome. DESCRIPTION (Subject) The portrait represents a mature woman with a distinctive physiognomy, hairstyle, and crown. Because the decoration on the diadem and the twisted band are not completely worked out on the left side, the head may have turned in this direction. The face has a rectangular shape with plastically rendered flesh and an elderly physiognomy. There is an indentation over the bridge of the nose, sagging skin under the eyes, deep naso-labial folds, and creases at the corner of the mouth. The mouth itself is tightly closed with thin lips. The chin is small and rounded. The eyes have carefully worked upper lids, a flat lower lid, pointed inner canthi, and U-shaped pupils set in the upper half of the eye. The physiognomy seems masculine. The hair frames the brow in contiguous, stylized loops that descend from above. These loops cede at the level of the ears to a section of long hair which falls downwards and is then pulled back upwards. It passes then under a broad band of hair, probably an encircling plait, which has been covered by cloth and appears smooth. The broad band runs around the entire head. Above it on the back of the head, the hair lies in long strands that fall naturally. The diadem consists of a lower twisted element and the diadem proper. The latter is a metal framework of rectangles and a central oval. Small raised circular elements, pearls or studs, mark the corners of the rectangular frames, and presumably stones or gems were set into the framework. Both the twisted band and the diadem end in cords which are tied together at the back of the head. Projecting from the top of the metal framework at the front are two raised bosses. DATE The date should depend on a combination of three factors: diadem style, hairstyle, and physiognomy. The diadem belongs securely to the fourth or fifth century and appears on numismatic images of Licinia Eudoxia and Gallia Placidia. The hairstyle, which combines deep crimped brow locks with probably an encircling braid, originates in the fourth century. The portrait head, now in the Camposanto in Pisa, shows a similar arrangement of brow locks (LSA-978). The cloth covering of the plait and other variations of head coverings seems to belong in the later fourth century and thereafter; the best parallel for this object occurs on a head, also with diadem, now in Como (LSA-574). The harsh physiognomy is unusual for a female portrait and cannot be connected to any specific individual. It is however unusually close in the rendering of the eyes, mouth, vertical furrow over the nose, and loose skin to a male head from Rome (LSA-961) which should belong to the second half of the fourth century. HONORAND The diadem identifies the subject as an empress, but there is no detail which allows for a more precise identification. For historic, biographic reasons (that is, general date and age of the honorand) scholars have suggested that she be identified as Gallia Placidia (L'Orange, Meischner, and Schade) or Aelia Pulcheria (Schade with caveat that this is less likely given the western provenance). Main ReferenceL'Orange, H.P., 'Ein unbekanntes Porträt einer spätantiken Kaiserin', Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia 1(1962), 49-52Schade, K., Frauen in der Spätantike--Status und Repräsentation, Mainz 2003, 215-16, no. I 55, pl. 60.2-4 Meischner, J., 'Das Porträt der Galla Placidia im Museo dell’alto medioevo, Rom', Latomus 50 (1991), 861-864, 861-864, pl .9 Discussion ReferencesEnsoli, S. and E. La Rocca (eds.), Aurea Roma: dalla città pagana alla città cristiana, Roma 2000, 578, no. 262 (Bergmann) |
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