SculptureNear Eastern

Head of a Woman

early 1st Millennium BCE?

Description

This female head, likely broken off a statuette, is incomplete in its current state. The eyes—and perhaps also the brows—were once inlaid, and the recessed area extending from the forehead to the sides and around the back of the head suggests that the hair, too, was added in a different material. The head is topped by a flat circular disk with a central hole, indicating that a headdress was added or that the figure served as a support of some kind. The disk is chipped, and the stone surface overall has a brownish “patina” that is darker in the eye cavities.

Classification

Sculpture

Technique

Carved

Medium

Hard limestone

Culture

Near Eastern

Period

Neo-Assyrian period

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics

Dimensions

4.2 × 3 × 3.5 cm (1 5/8 × 1 3/16 × 1 3/8 in.)

Provenance

[Charles D. Kelekian, New York (by 1952-1982)], by descent; to [Kelekian Associates, New York (1982-1992)], by descent; to Nanette Rodney Kelekian, New York (1992-2021), bequest; to the Harvard Art Museums. NOTE: "Kelekian Associates" was formed at the death of Charles D. Kelekian by Nanette Rodney Kelekian and her mother Beatrice Kelekian. Upon Beatrice Kelekian’s death in 1992, ownership passed to Nanette Rodney Kelekian.