Well, I was hankering for a zany, special sort of glass object, and this one in Torino fits the bill beautifully. A small glass medallion (under 5 cm diameter), it encases the haunting portrait of a young woman in gold leaf.
There are very few portraits of this kind known (under a dozen authentic ones), almost all found in mainland Italy, when the provenance gives any sort of indication. Yet, a connection to Alexandrian Egypt has been periodically proposed as some include inscriptions in a local Greek dialect, and the perception that the portraits share stylistic similarities to the panel painted ‘Fayoum’ portraits lingers. The use of these roundels is somewhat debated: most likely they were framed in metal and worn, but this is very much up to debate.
This particular example shows a young woman with a long face, powerful nose, and full lips, draped in a stola and gazing at the viewer. Her identity cannot be established with any certainty (indeed, all surviving portraits in this format show private individuals), but based on her elaborate Severan coiffure she certainly lived in the mid-3rd century A.D.
We are far more used to seeing ancient portraits sculpted in the round (as that is what survives in greatest quantity) and it is (for me at least) a bit of a shock to encounter examples such as this one – somehow they are more immediate, more chilling, and wonderfully mysterious. Here, the psychedelic teal and violet iridescence around the roundel’s edges only amplify the startling power of her gaze.
