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Portrait-head of a woman from a statue or bust
Portrait-head of a woman from a statue or bust

Portrait-head of a woman from a statue or bust

Artist Unknown
Date14–68
MediumBronze (copper alloy), sheet-silver
Dimensions12 1/2 x 8 x 8 3/4 in. (31.8 x 20.3 x 22.2 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), the State of North Carolina, and various donors, by exchange
Object number95.6
On View
On view
ProvenanceAmanda Lisse, Herne, Germany (per Haber, see file); with Robert Haber & Associates, New York, by 1994; sold to NCMA, 1995.
Published ReferencesLa Chronique des Arts (supplement to Gazette des Beaux-Arts) no. 1526 (March 1996), 55, illus.

Carol C. Mattusch, The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzed from North American Collections (exhibition catalogue) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Art Museums, 1996), cat. no. 41, illus. (color) pl. 8, (b-w) 299), (b-w details) 300.

Nancy Stapen, "Smashing Assumptions Cast in Bronze," Boston: The Boston Globe (May 28, 1996), 32, illus.

Sandra E. Knudsen, "The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections," (exhibition review) Minerva 7, no. 3 (May/June 1996), illus. 29.

Sally Vallongo, "Museum's exhibit of classic bronzes tells the vivid story of a civilization," Toledo: The Toledo Blade (October 13, 1996), illus. 1[?].

Jason Edward Kaufmann, "Bronzes, the rarest and most valuable classical art," The Art Newspaper 63 (October 1996), 13.

Carol C. Mattusch, Myth, Man & Metal: Bronze Sculptures of Ancient Greece and Rome, Video Lecture Series-Vol. 3 (Cincinnati: Institute for Mediterranean Studies, 1996), videotape.

Mary Ellen Soles, entry for Head of a Woman in the Guise of a Goddess, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 8, 32, illus. (color) 32.

Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (November/December 2004), illus. (color) 7.

Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity (exhibition catalogue) (Munich: Biering & Brinkmann, 2007), briefly discussed 125, illus. (b-w, as Portrait of Livia) 125, fig. 218, detail (b-w) 125, fig. 219 (catalogue only, not in exhibition).

Mary Ellen Soles, entry for Head of a Woman in the Guise of a Goddess, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 66, illus. (color) 67, also mentioned and illus. (color) 9.

Jennifer Whitaker, "Head of a Woman in the Guise of a Goddess" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 100. (as "Head of a Woman in the Guise of a Goddess")
Exhibition HistoryCambridge, MA, Harvard University, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, "The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections," April 19-August 10, 1996; Toledo, OH,Toledo Museum of Art, October 13, 1996-January 5, 1997, cat. no. 41, illus. (color) plate 8, (b-w) 299, (b-w details) 300.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Art for the People: Recent Museum Acquisitions,” September 14, 1997-January 4, 1998. (Closing date extended to January 25, 1998)

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Objects of Desire: The Museum \Collects, 1994-2004," July 18, 2004-February 27, 2005.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present.
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Decorative couch attachment with Silenus
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circa 50 BCE–100 CE
Mirror
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circa 300 BCE with 19th century engraving
Biconal situla
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circa 750–700 BCE
Isis-Aphrodite
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1st–2nd century
Isis and Horus
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664–525 BCE
Carinated Bowl
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305–30 BCE
Statue of Aphrodite Anadyomene (Cyrene Type)
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late 1st century BCE–2nd century CE
Statue of Bacchus
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1st–3rd century (torso and head), with postantique restorations