Artist Unknown

Head of A Young Woman

  • marble
  • Rome/Italy
  • Purchased, 1972
  • 156 x 112 x 134mm
  • 72/141

Tags: girls, people (agents), women (female humans), youth

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This small marble head of a young woman was probably once part of a Roman sarcophagus, or stone coffin, where such figures could serve as portraits of the deceased, decorative elements, or representations of mythological figures. Carved almost 2,000 years ago, it preserves the features of a face whose original identity and meaning are now unknown. Whether a real person or an imagined figure from classical mythology, her enigmatic expression remains.

(Timeless: Treasures from the Historical Collection 19 September 2026 –30 May 2027)

Exhibition History

Andreas Cellarius Hypothesis Ptolemaica Sive Communis Planetarum Motus Per Eccentricos Et Epicyclos Demonstrans [The Ptolemaic Hypothesis or Common Representation Demonstrating the Planetary Motions through Eccentrics and Epicycles] 1661. Hand-coloured engraving. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, William A. Sutton bequest, 2000
Out of Time
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other labels about this work

  • Out of Time, 23 September 2023 – 28 April 2024

    The small size, appearance, and angled turn of the head of this almost 2,000-year-old marble sculpture suggests it was originally from a Roman stone coffin, or sarcophagus. Heads like this one featured on sarcophagi as decoration, as portraits of the deceased or as representations of mythological figures. We can only guess which one this is.