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A woman's head.

A woman's head, her neck ending just below her chin. She has a round face with a narrow chin, a small mouth, straight nose, and large eyes which are hollow, as if her eyeballs are missing. There are also holes in her earlobes where earrings may go. Her hair is rendered in close detail with a middle part and waves which are pulled back and up into a style high at the back of her head which stand upright, almost looking like horns. The surface of both hair and skin is mottled red and black.

Gallery Text

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin that has been used for thousands of years to make objects as diverse as sculpture and figurines, weapons and armor, and jewelry and tableware. The addition of tin and sometimes lead made the alloy more versatile and lowered its melting point; another common copper alloy is brass (copper and zinc), which was in widespread use in the Roman period. Although other materials, like stone, glass, and terracotta, were available, copper alloy items were valued for their golden sheen, versatility, and durability. The material lent prestige and beauty to objects like these statuettes, most of which would have been dedicated to the gods. Modern bronzes are often artificially patinated, like the Rodin sculpture in this colonnade. While ancient bronzes were sometimes gilded or deliberately darkened, the unaltered surfaces naturally acquired a red, green, or brown patina over time.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1970.21
Title
Head of a Woman
Other Titles
Former Title: Female Head with Fillet (Aphrodite?)
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, head
Date
2nd century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period, Middle
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304315

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3200, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Classical Sculpture
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
10.5 x 9 x 8.9 cm (4 1/8 x 3 9/16 x 3 1/2 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 83.56; Sn, 7.81; Pb, 8.22; Zn, 0.034; Fe, 0.18; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.07; Sb, 0.09; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Leaded Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, lead
Other Elements: iron
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is dark green with spots of red and black. The surface has been cleaned down to the red cuprite layer in most areas and buffed to a very smooth finish. A small fill is present on the bottom of the hair bun.

Close confirmation of interior and exterior surfaces indicate the head was cast using an indirect lost-wax technique. A hole (3 mm wide) with a projecting flange in the interior, caused by pushing a hot core pin into the wax model, is well hidden by a patch (6 x 8 mm) on the top of the head at the fillet. The general hair and facial features were probably cast in the wax model, but finer lines in the hair and face were probably cut directly in the wax and further refined in the metal after casting. The degree of cold working is obscured by both corrosion and post-excavation cleaning. The bottom V-shaped edge of the neck is a finished cast surface. The surface was widened to c. 1 cm directly in the wax by the addition of a flange to provide a broad surface for contact at the join to the body. No solder or other material related to the join of the head with its body has survived. Flat surfaces on the top and bottom of the eye sockets (c. 4 mm deep) might have assisted in holding inlay or a composite of inlay materials. The earring holes (3 to 3.5 mm in diameter) are ancient. It is not clear if they were made in the wax or the metal. There is no evidence of secondary metal on the fillet or elsewhere on the head.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Münzen und Medaillen, Basel, Auktion 40, December 13, 1969, no. 156,] sold; to Landon T. Clay, Boston, MA, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1970.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Year
1970
Object Number
1970.21
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The head of this woman, who is probably the goddess Venus, would have been put onto a separately made body. Her face is round, with a prominent nose, small mouth, curved chin, and pierced ears. Her eyes would have been inlaid with another material, and she would have worn earrings in her earlobes. She wears her hair in a style associated with Venus: a bow-like topknot on the top of her head and a bun at the back of her neck, which is secured with a fillet that is visible on the top of her head (1). Her hair is molded into wavy locks, and the high relief of the hair is crisp. The bottom surface of her neck forms a deep V-shape, removing any indication of a neck.

Many statue heads have a V-shaped neck and often also originally had inlaid eyes (2). Even full-sized statue heads had these features (3). The bodies of the bronze statues to which these heads belonged were cast in separate sections and then pieced together.

NOTES:

1. For the hairstyle, see A. Kaufmann-Heinimann, Götter und Lararien aus Augusta Raurica: Herstellung, Fundzusammenhänge und sakrale Funktion figürlicher Bronzen in einer römischen Stadt, Forschungen in Augst 26 (Augst, 1998) 173, figs. 124-25; and Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae Venus nos. 43, 88, 113, 116, 124, 184, 244-47, 268, and 359.

2. See, for example, M. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Greenwich, CT, 1971) 68, no. 68; Los bronces romanos en España, exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Palacio de Velazquez (Madrid, 1990) 256, no. 176 (a youth); A. Kaufmann-Heinimann, Die römischen Bronzen der Schweiz 5: Neufunde und Nachträge (Mainz, 1994) no. 41 (a Minerva with pierced ears); A. Dostert, N. Franken, and U. Peltz, “‘Ein seltenes und interessantes Stück’: Die erste antike Grossbronze der königlichen Kunstsammlungen in Berlin und Potsdam,” Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 50 (2008): 9-24, esp. figs. 1-6 and 13-14 (a youth, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv. no. Fr. 1828). For discussion of a group of heads with this method of attachment, see F. Braemer, “Observations sur des grandes statuettes et des petits ‘grands bronzes’ représentant des types répandus a travers l’empire romain,” in Actes du IVe Colloque International sur les bronzes antiques, 17-21 mai 1976, ed. S. Boucher (Lyon, 1977) 41-52.

3. See the Apoxyomenos head in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, inv. no. 2000.03 a,b; and the complete Apoxyomenos statue pulled from the sea near Lošinj, Croatia; M. Michelucci, ed., Apoxyomenos: The Athlete of Croatia (Florence, 2006).


Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • Kunstwerke der Antike, auct. cat., Münzen und Medaillen Deutschland GmbH (Germany, December 13, 1969), no. 153
  • David Gordon Mitten and Amy Brauer, Dialogue with Antiquity, The Curatorial Achievement of George M. A. Hanfmann, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1982), p. 15, no. 57.
  • Henry Lie and Francesca Bewer, "Ex Aere Factum: Technical Notes on Ancient Bronzes", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 38-63, pp. 53-54, fig. 2.10.a-c.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), pp. 53-54, 62, fig. 2.10a-c

Exhibition History

  • Dialogue with Antiquity: The Curatorial Achievement of George M.A. Hanfmann, Fogg Art Museum, 05/07/1982 - 06/26/1982
  • Roman Gallery Installation (long-term), Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/16/1999 - 01/20/2008
  • 32Q: 3200 West Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu