Sabaean Alabaster Head of a Woman with Necklace

Culture: South Arabia/Sabaean

Period: 2nd-1st century B.C.

Material: Alabaster

Dimensions: 19 cm high

Price: 12 000 Euro

Ref: 6545

Provenance: English private collection, auctioned with Christie's London on 16 May 1972, lot 86. There acquired by the gallery Charles Ede, London. Last in another English collection. With a copy of Christie's auction catalogue from 1972.

Condition: Unrestored with ancient polish and perfectly preserved nose.

Description: Wonderfully preserved, stylized alabaster head of a woman from the Kingdom of Sheba. The face with finely hollowed out eyes, which once were painted, the nose long and in v-shape between high cheek bones. The mouth as a recess indicating a smile and with dimples on both sides. The hair is tied on both sides in long braids that cascade over the shoulders at the front, but leave the large, elongated ears visible. On the neck a four-layer jewellery. The head is at the back and on top only roughly hewn because it adorned a niche of a funerary stele. See for the early type the stylized southern Arabian niche heads with painted eyes “Jemen – Kunst und Archäologie im Land der Königin von Saba”, Wilfried Seipel (ed.), No. 316, page 344, as well as the female heads with long braids number 406, page 368. Mounted.