A Small Ancient Imperial Romano-Egyptian Marble Heads
A Small Ancient Imperial Romano-Egyptian Marble Head Portraying the Goddess Fortuna each with her hair arranged in graceful wavy lines and drawn back into a chignon one wearing a diadem
Perhaps Alexandrian
1st Century AD
Sizes: A: 6cm high, 4cm wide, 5cm deep - 2¼ ins high, 1½ ins wide, 2 ins deep / 15cm high - 6 ins high (with base)
B: 5cm high, 3.5cm wide, 4cm deep - 2 ins high, 1¼ ins wide, 1½ ins deep / 14.5cm high - 5¾ ins high (with base)
Perhaps Alexandrian
1st Century AD
Sizes: A: 6cm high, 4cm wide, 5cm deep - 2¼ ins high, 1½ ins wide, 2 ins deep / 15cm high - 6 ins high (with base)
B: 5cm high, 3.5cm wide, 4cm deep - 2 ins high, 1¼ ins wide, 1½ ins deep / 14.5cm high - 5¾ ins high (with base)
Small votive statuettes of the goddess Fortuna were used in the shrines of private households. The bringer of good fortune, she also offered protection to seafarers in her association with the cult of Isis. The main annual festival for the worship of Isis-Fortuna also marked the opening of the season for navigation.
By the 1st century AD hair dressing had become a science and occupied a considerable part of a fashionable lady’s time. The natural hair was often insufficient for the tower-like coiffures and so false plaits or wigs were used. Sometimes a removable carved marble hair dress was placed upon the head which could be replaced by a new one according to fashion. The custom of dyeing the hair a reddish-yellow colour is mentioned by Cato as being a Greek custom introduced to Rome, with a caustic soap made of tallow and ashes being imported from Gaul especially for the purpose. The long wars with Germany engendered a predilection for the blond hair of German women, and in consequence, it became a valuable commodity as the Roman women hid their own hair under fair wigs of German locks.
By the 1st century AD hair dressing had become a science and occupied a considerable part of a fashionable lady’s time. The natural hair was often insufficient for the tower-like coiffures and so false plaits or wigs were used. Sometimes a removable carved marble hair dress was placed upon the head which could be replaced by a new one according to fashion. The custom of dyeing the hair a reddish-yellow colour is mentioned by Cato as being a Greek custom introduced to Rome, with a caustic soap made of tallow and ashes being imported from Gaul especially for the purpose. The long wars with Germany engendered a predilection for the blond hair of German women, and in consequence, it became a valuable commodity as the Roman women hid their own hair under fair wigs of German locks.
A Small Ancient Imperial Romano-Egyptian Marble Heads
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