Portrait head of a woman,

98–117 CE

Excavated at Chiavenna, Italy, in the garden of the house of Count Salis Soglio, May 2, 1879; Giuseppe Martinucci, owner of the house of Count Salis Soglio; purchased from the above by a Mr. Badrutt of St. Moritz through the mediation of Otto Weber of Chiavenna, local hotelier. Acquired by Alfredo Barsanti; [purchased from the above by Giuseppe Sangiorgi, May 30, 1912 [1]]; [purchased by Joseph Brummer in the winter 1920-1921, and soon after returned to Sangiorgi [2]]; [art market (probably still with Sangiorgi), Rome (Italy), July 1924 [3]]. Annibale Conti, Milan, until possibly 1931 [4]. Fahim Kouchakji (1886-1976), New York (NY), by May 6, 1946 [5]; [Sotheby's London July 1, 1969, lot 81 [6]]; purchased from the above by a certain Brandt [7]. [Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York (NY), Dec. 14, 1978, lot 274 [8]]; [purchased from the above by Stanley Moss & Co., New York (NY)]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 1980.

[1] For the provenance until this point, see Rodolfo Lanciani, Federico Hermanin, Roberto Paribeni, "Sull'autenticità di una testa di bronzo", in Ausonia, n. 9 (1919), p. 123-138: 123.

[2] See letters from Parsons to Whiting, February 25 and August 17, 1921, in the museum files.

[3] Kurt Kluge, Die Antiken Grossbronzen, 3 vols., Berlin 1927, vol. 1, p. 240-241.

[4] According to a caption on picture n. 74571 of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence (Italy), the head was in the collection of Milan-based collector Annibale Conti and was later auctioned off in New York. Since the picture was acquired by the KHI in 1931, it is reasonable to assume that, by then, the head had been transported to New York.

[5] In that year, Kouchakji had the bronze head examined at the University of Chicago. See the object files for the examination report.

[6] Catalogue of Egyptian, Western Asiatic, Irish Bronze Age, Greek, Etruscan, Roman and Anglo-Saxon antiquities, ancient glass and jewellery, Islamic pottery and metalwork: including a highly important Roman bronze head of a woman, 2nd century A.D., day of sale: Tuesday, 1st July, 1969, London: Sotheby and Co., 1969, lot 81.

[7] See the sales results supplement included in the auction catalog. No further information is given.

[8] Important Egyptian, Classical and Western Asiatic antiquities: fine ancient and Islamic glass from the collection of Wheaton College, Dec. 14, 1978, New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., 1978, no. 274.

• Rodolfo Lanciani, Federico Mermanin and Roberto Paribeni, “Sull’ autenticità di una testa di bronzo”, Ausonia: rivista della Società italiana di archeologia e storia dell’arte 9 (1919).

  , p. 123-138
• Carlo Albizzati, "Ritratto femminile dell'eta di Traiano," Atti della Pontificia Accademia romana di archeologia 15 (ser. 2) (1920): p. 291-359., p. 291-307 (Illus.)
• Kurt Kluge and Karl Lehmann Hartleben, Die Antiken Grossbronzen, (Berlin; Leipzig: Verlag von Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1927)., Vol. 1: p. 240-241
• An exhibition of ancient sculpture, Fogg Art Museum, May-June 1950, (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, 1950)., cat. no. 42

• 2500 years of Italian art and civilization: sculpture, painting, decorative arts, (Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1957).

  , no. 28, fig. 11;
• Michael Milkovich, Roman portraits: a loan exhibition of Roman sculpture and coins from the first century B.C. through the fourth century A.D.: April 6-May 14, 1961, (Worcester, MA: Worcester Art Museum, 1961)., cat. no. 18 (illus.)

• Catalogue of Egyptian, Western Asiatic, Irish Bronze Age, Greek, Etruscan, Roman and Anglo-Saxon antiquities, ancient glass and jewellery, Islamic pottery and metalwork: including a highly important Roman bronze head of a woman, 2nd century A.D.: day of sale: Tuesday, 1st July, 1969, (London: Sotheby and Co., 1969).

  , lot 261

• Important Egyptian, Classical and Western Asiatic antiquities: fine ancient and Islamic glass from the collection of Wheaton College: Dec. 14, 1978, (New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., 1978).

  , no. 274 (color illus.)
• "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1980", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 40, no. 1 (1981): p. 14-31., p. 24
• Patricia E. Mottahedeh, "The Princeton bronze portrait of a woman with reticulatum", in Arthur Houghton, ed., Festschrift für Leo Mildenberg: Numismatik, Kunstgeschichte, Archäologie, (Wetteren: Editions NR, 1984). , p. 193-210; pls. 29-30.
• Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones, Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986), p. 30 (illus.)
• Ian Jenkins and Dyfri Williams, "A bronze portrait head and its hair net", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 46, no. 2 (1987): p. 8-15., p. 9-10; figs. 1-4
• Pieter Meyers, "The Use of Scientific Techniques in Provenance Studies of Ancient Bronzes" in Marion True and Jerry Podany, eds., Small bronze sculpture from the ancient world: papers delivered at a symposium, (Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1990). , p. 238-40
• A.J.N.W. Prag and R.A.H. Neave, "Who is the 'Carian Princess?,'" in ed. Jacob Isager, Hekatomnid Caria and the Ionian Renaissance: acts of the International Symposium at the Department of Greek and Roman Studies, Odense University, 28-29 November, 1991, (Odense: Odense University Press, 1994). , p. 104-105; fig. 14

• Carol C. Mattusch, with contributions by Beryl Barr-Sharrar, et. al., The fire of Hephaistos: large classical bronzes from North American collections, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Art Museums, 1996).

  , p. 58; color pl. 7; p. 293-96; cat. no. 39
• A.J.N.W. Prag and R.A.H Neave, Making faces: using forensic evidence and archaeological evidence, (London: British Museum Press, 1997). , p. 215; fig. 6
• E. Bartman, "Hair and the artifice of Roman female adornment", American journal of archaeology 105, no. 1 (Jan., 2001): p. 1-25., p. 14; pl. 2; p. 16 (illus.)
• J. Michael Padgett, ed., Roman sculpture in The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: Art Museum, Princeton University, 2001)., cat. no. 58
• C.C. Vermeule, "Faces of empire (Julius Caesar to Justinian)", Celator 19, no. 11 (Nov., 2005)., p. 25; fig. 2
• Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 274 (illus.)
• Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 326
• Molly M. Linder, Portraits of the Vestal Virgins, priestesses of Ancient Rome, (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2015)., fig. 68
• Eve D'Ambra, "Style from Below in the Roman Empire: A Bust of a Matron at the J. Paul Getty Museum," Getty Research Journal, no. 15 (2022): 1-24.

• An Educated Eye: The Princeton University Art Museum Collection (Friday, February 22, 2008 - Sunday, June 15, 2008)