This sensitively carved portrait bust presents a mature woman with a thoughtful expression and piercing gaze; the scroll held in her right hand signals an appreciation for classical learning and marks her as a member of the elite. She wears a mantle, tunic, and head covering, typical dress for an aristocratic woman. Such head coverings did not come into fashion until the fourth century. The bust likely formed part of a commemorative display, perhaps documenting a public donation, or was used in a domestic setting.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Marble Portrait Bust of a Woman with a Scroll
Date:late 4th–early 5th century
Geography:Made in Constantinople
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Pentelic Marble
Dimensions:Overall: 20 7/8 x 10 13/16 x 8 3/4 in. (53 x 27.5 x 22.2 cm) Base: 1 7/8 x 12 1/2 x 6 3/4in. (4.8 x 31.8 x 17.1cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Stone
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1966
Accession Number:66.25
Possibly found in Istanbul; [ John J. Klejman American, New York (from at least 1965-1966)]
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 18, 1970–March 29, 1970.
Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 16, 1970–July 5, 1970.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions, 1965–1975," December 6, 1975–March 23, 1976.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century," November 19, 1977–February 12, 1978.
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," June–December 1989.
State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," February–July 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Culture," September 26, 2006–February 18, 2007.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ninety-Sixth Annual Report of the Trustees, for the Fiscal Year 1965-1966." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 25, no. 2 (October 1966). (acc. no. misidentified as 66.45 in text).
Forsyth, William H. "Recent Museum Acquisitions: Byzantine Bust of a Woman (Metropolitan Museum of Art)." The Burlington Magazine 109, no. 770 (May 1967). pp. 304, 306, fig. 55–56.
Alföldi-Rosenbaum, Elisabeth. "Portrait Bust of a Young Lady of the Time of Justinian." Metropolitan Museum Journal 1 (1968). pp. 19–40, fig. 1–5, 8, 10.
Ostoia, Vera K. The Middle Ages: Treasures from the Cloisters and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969. no. 18, pp. 48, 253.
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Sande, Siri. "Zur Porträtplastik des sechsten nachchristlichen Jahrhunderts." Acta Ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 6 (1975). pp. 94–95.
Weitzmann, Kurt. "The Late Roman World." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 35, no. 2 (Autumn 1977). no. 42, pp. 46–47, fig. 42.
Knudsen-Morgan, Sandra. "The Age of Spirituality." Apollo 107, no. 191 (January 1978). pp. 15–16, fig. 13.
İnan, Jale, and Elisabeth Alföldi-Rosenbaum. Römische und frühbyzantinische Porträtplastik aus der Türkei: Volume 1, Text. Mainz: Von Zabern, 1979. no. 335, pp. 335–36.
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Shepard, Mary B. Europe in the Middle Ages, edited by Charles T. Little, and Timothy B. Husband. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. pp. 7, 29, pl. 16.
Pushkin Museum and State Hermitage Museum. Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki: Kratkii Katalog Vystavki. Moscow: Pushkin Museum, 1990. no. 8, p. 10.
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