Wonder about your neck? Well women of the early Ptolemaic dynasty evidently did and those distinctive fleshy folds ringing the neck were characteristic of their portraits – anatomical flair that does not necessarily translate into modern sensibilities. These ‘Venus-rings’ were a symbol of feminine beauty (and likely prosperity), and were all the rage in the Hellenistic period.
This small head (5.8 cm tall) in faience backs a powerful punch, and likely belonged to a full length statuette of a Ptolemaic queen – precisely which one is harder to pin down as they freely shared physiognomic shortcuts, but my money is on Arsinoe II…slightly prim, slightly nostrily, a bit fleshy, and with that stare!
The glossy aquamarine of the faience is set off by traces of pigment that seem to indicate that her already prodigious eyeballs were darkened and lustrous, her hair and eyebrows yellowed, crown gilded, with metal accoutrements attached by pins midway down the cone created by her gathered chignon. The head was found in Naukratis, and its quality and size suggests a dedication to the royal cult there.
