Female Face and Neck
1 of 3
Object Label
Objects of this type may have served multiple purposes. They have been found in temples, tombs, and houses. Perhaps they satisfied the sexual needs of men in the afterlife or conveyed wishes for fertility on the part of both men and women. They may have had a connection with Hathor, goddess of love and sexuality. The child here suggests the ideas of fertility and rebirth, which were vital to resurrection and immortality in the next life.
Caption
Graeco-Egyptian. Female Face and Neck, Marble, pigment, 8 9/16 × 4 × 3 7/16 in. (21.8 × 10.2 × 8.7 cm) mount: 12 1/2 × 4 1/4 × 4 1/2 in. (31.8 × 10.8 × 11.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.580.82. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Culture
Title
Female Face and Neck
Period
late Ptolemaic Period to early Roman Period
Geography
Possible place made: Egypt
Medium
Marble, pigment
Classification
Dimensions
8 9/16 × 4 × 3 7/16 in. (21.8 × 10.2 × 8.7 cm) mount: 12 1/2 × 4 1/4 × 4 1/2 in. (31.8 × 10.8 × 11.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour
Accession Number
16.580.82
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Any cool facts about this?
Sure! If you look very closely, you can still see traces of red paint in the hair! Most sculptures were brightly painted in ancient times.Interestingly, the shape of her mouth is one of the ways we can tell that this fragment comes from the Ptolemaic or Hellenistic period.Why is this incomplete?
This is actually an ancient fragment which dates to the Ptolemaic period in Egypt. Rodin liked to collect ancient fragments and put them in his studio as inspiration for his own works.
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