Details
A South Arabian Alabaster Head of a Woman
circa 1st Century B.C.
7 ½ in. (19 cm.) high

Provenance:
with Francesca Artuner, Brussels.
with J. Frickel, Koln, Germany, acquired from the above in 1964.
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Lot Essay

The spade-shaped face with the eyes deeply recessed for now-missing inlays, thin arching brows, a long slim nose and narrow mouth, the small protruding ears with carved details, her chiseled, roughly finished hair falling to just below the chin, on a tall cylindrical neck, likely once set in the niche of a funerary stele. When contextualized with this South Arabian head from the 1st century B.C., the elongated heads and necks favored by modern artists such as Modigliani and Picasso seem undeniably inspired by these ancient examples.

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