Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 122006=1930,0613.2 |
Notes | Donated by Mrs H.C. Gowan. |
Support type | Artefact » Sculpture in the round » Part of human body | ||||||
Material | Alabaster | ||||||
Measures | h. 21.2, w. 12.5, th. 10.8 | ||||||
Decoration |
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Notes on support and decorations | Head of a female with a long, thin neck, deep eye sockets where the entire eye is roughly carved out for inlay, dramatic long fine eye-brows highlighting brow ridge, a refined triangular nose, a full lower lip, a fine jaw line, stylized ears, and the chin length hair keyed for plaster which was originally painted black. Despite the flat back, the head carved with considerable depth and the face is delicately modelled, so that the head is very striking in profile as well from the front. The head was originally set in an inscribed base or displayed inside a niche. The head ends flat at hairline, and the poll and reverse are rough with horizontal tool marks. |
Modern site | Ḥayd Ibn ʿAqīl |
Ancient site | Unknown |
Geographical area | Wādī Bayḥān |
Country | Yemen |
Archaeological context | Funerary context: Necropolis |
Notes | The probably provenance from the cemetery of Ḥayd ibn ʿAqīl is proposed by Antonini. |
Link to site record |
Antonini 2001: 140-141, pl. 83 | Antonini, Sabina 2001. La statuaria sudarabica in pietra. Repertorio iconografico sudarabico. 1. Paris: de Boccard / Rome: IsIAO. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres; Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente] |