Ivory Head of a Young Woman

Egypt, said to be Alexandrian
2nd century A.D.
H. 8.5 cm (3 5/16")
Gift of Alain Moatti in honor of Thomas T. Solley, 91.491

Finely carved from an ivory tusk, this head portrays a young woman with full cheeks and lips, heavy lids, and a short straight nose. Her hair, parted in the Greek-style at the center, is pulled over the forehead fillet and drawn back in a high bun. The bun is held by a large, elaborately decorated comb, very much in the manner of real-life combs, which in Egypt were commonly of ivory or bone. Her corkscrew locks fall in three separate bunches down her sides and back. An Alexandrian queen portrait in the guise of Isis could have been the prototype. The corkscrew curls became Isis's trademark starting in the late fourth century B.C. and remained so for centuries.