ETRUSCAN, Fragmentary Head of a Woman, Etruscan, late 4th to early 3rd century BC

ETRUSCAN

Fragmentary Head of a Woman, Etruscan, late 4th to early 3rd century BC

Terracotta, with traces of original polychromy; on a modern base

22 cm (8 ½ in.) high

This incredibly rare life-size Etruscan terracotta head, which once perhaps stood in its complete form in a sanctuary, is an exceptional example of the sophistication of Italic artists, who at...

This incredibly rare life-size Etruscan terracotta head, which once perhaps stood in its complete form in a sanctuary, is an exceptional example of the sophistication of Italic artists, who at this time began to fuse native traditions with ones imported from Greece.

She is depicted wearing a veil, which covers her hair with the exception of the front, where thick, curly hair, centrally parted, flows down around the sides of the head. Beneath the veil, an elaborate headband decorated with round rosettes is visible. The face is round and symmetrical, with no indications of age beyond a classicising youthfulness. The slightly curved brows meet at the long, straight nose. Her deep-set almond- shaped eyes are hooded under heavy lids, with pupils and irises incised. Her full mouth is held slightly open. It is clear that many details of the head were worked by free hand rather than made in a mould. For example, the decorative florets on the headdress seem to have been modelled separately and then attached, while the remnants of incision visible in the locks of hair indicate a sculptor worked the clay while it was wet before a final firing process.

The closest comparable example is an Etruscan terracotta statue of a woman which entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York in 1916 (Acc. no. 16.141). Both examples possess similar full, oval- shaped faces, and the rosettes on the hairband of both are so close that it is possible that they came from the same mould. From this close parallel, it is possible to extrapolate more about the original appearance of the present head. She probably wore a mantle and was richly decorated in jewellery, including necklaces moulded in terracotta and possible further attachments made of glass or gold. The distinctive style of this head, in particular the style of the headband, indicates it is likely from a city called Lavinium, an Etruscan site eighteen miles south of Rome. This head offers insight into one of the cultures that would come to shape the visual language of Republican Rome throughout the following two centuries.

Provenance

With Galerie Segredakis, Paris, 1952.

Purchased from the above by M. Descrieres, 1952.

Given by the above to a private collector (?) in the 1950s.

Thence by descent until 2017.

ETRUSCAN

Further images

Provenance