Terracotta Portrait Bust of a Roman Lady, 2nd Cent. AD: is she an Empress?

By pure coincidence (given @Roman Collector's new thread this morning about whether a marble head in the Archaeological Museum of Nikopolis is actually intended to represent Faustina II), my final antiquities purchase of 2021 -- I only bought a half-dozen in total, and this was the first since March -- arrived yesterday from the UK. It's a second century terracotta portrait bust of a Roman lady, originally acquired more than a century ago in Tunisia by a French colonial administrator. Both the dealer and I thought that the bust bears a facial resemblance to coin portraits of Faustina II. However, I thought that I would call upon the expertise of some of our members -- particularly @Roman Collector himself! -- and solicit their opinions on whether this bust might be Faustina II, or perhaps some other second century empress. Contrary to what one might assume, I have never taken any great interest in the details of women's hairstyles, either on coins or in real life!

Here is my description of the bust, based on information provided by the dealer and my own independent research on the original owner:

Very fine Roman molded pottery (terracotta) portrait bust of a lady with hair in horizontal waves and chignon, possibly Faustina II or another empress, mid- to late-2nd Century AD, acquired 1890-1920 in Sousse, Tunisia (formerly Hadrumetum, Roman Africa; location of Sousse Archaeological Museum, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousse_Archaeological_Museum). 16 cm. x 9.5 cm. Repaired on neck, light chipping, tip of nose missing, otherwise intact. Red/brown/ochre terracotta color with remaining traces of white indicating, according to dealer, that the surface "received a second layer of fine-finishing during ancient production by applying a thin slip of white plaster/stucco which could be smoothed over the surface of the fired clay to conceal small firing cracks and so forth. The bust may then have been painted over with decoration or simply an even terracotta coloured wash, but this very rarely survives and so it's fairly impossible to ascertain" intended color. Purchased from Helios Gallery, Lower Kingsdown, Wiltshire, UK, Dec. 2021. Ex. Archaeology Auction 6 Mars, 2021, Lot 26, Hôtel des Ventes du Léman, Maître Albert Holtz, Thonon-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France; ex. Family Dumas Collection, Haute-Savoie, France; ex. Collection of Marius-Victor-Ernest Dumas (b. 1 Jun. 1865, Corps, Département de l'Isère, France, d. after 1920), contrôleur civil à Sousse (Tunisie), ca. 1890-1920 [after Tunisia became a French protectorate in 1881], Chevalier du 12 avril 1903 (see MÉRITE AGRICOLE, Journal officiel de la république française, 22 octobre 1910, p. 8677.).

Dealer's photos:













My photos, from as many angles as possible:














More photos to come in next post.

 

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More photos:





















Any and all opinions on the identity of this lady are welcome!

 

Not enough pictures...

Pretty cool though

 

I know you're being sarcastic, Mr. US coin collector. I hope that made you feel good, whoever you may be. But thanks anyway for your two cents.

 

Hey, I have some of everything, including ancients.

And I think it would be really cool to own that, it's a great piece of history.

 

Looks like Lucilla to me.

Here is my best portrait of her.

Either way, it's really cool and would love to own something like that, especially if it's indeed Lucilla.


Lucilla (162 - 182 A.D.)
AR Denarius
O: LVCILLAE AVG ANTONINI AVG F, Draped bust right.
R: CONCORDIA, Concordia standing facing, head left, holding patera and double cornucopiae.
Rome Mint
19mm
3.27g
RIC III 760.

Ex. Cabinet Numismatique, Genève.

Rare

 

Here's the nearest bust of Faustina II in my collection that could match, I think. Also please notice how the sculptor had shown Faustina Junior in the statue with an eye clearly bigger than the other eye ! Congrats for acquiring such an ancient statue anyway. Good Luck.

 

I hadn't noticed that, but you're right. Perhaps it's just the sculptor's lack of skill? I'm not sure why one eye would have been made larger than the other on purpose. On the other hand, the statue appears to be otherwise finely done. Strange.

@Mat, I think Lucilla's face is chubbier than the woman in this sculpture. Even though you can see that the woman has a slight double chin! To me, the sculpture in profile looks more like a somewhat more mature Faustina II (keeping in mind that the tip of her nose is missing from the statue, and you have to supply it with your imagination):

 

WoWiE!!! Way to take your collection up a notch Donna!
I'm torn between Faustina ll and Lucilla.. but leaning towards Lucilla:
Not mine

Edit.
And here is a Lucilla of mine that also has similar features!


And some Fausty 2s:

 

And here's a photo I took a couple of years ago of a marble bust of Faustina II, face forward (but with her nose almost entirely missing), at the ROM in Toronto, next to a bust of Septimius Severus. Is there a resemblance to my statue? Maybe!

 

Wonderful acquisition, Donna, and with outstanding provenance. Congrats. I've got a much more modest piece (an Etruscan dolium fragment) currently en route from Rolf and Samantha. I trust them implicitly.

 

I really doubt this bust is an imperial lady since it is made of terracotta instead of marble or bronze. She looks like a beautiful patrician lady, probably from a well to do family .

 

@Al Kowsky, of course that possibility has occurred to me. I suppose it could just be some patrician lady living in Hadrumetum, who was modeling her hair after the way empresses wore it at the time, chignon and all. On the other hand, I understand that any statue of an empress on public display would almost certainly be made of marble or bronze, but why is it out of the question that a private citizen could have owned a small terracotta sculpture of an empress for display in their home? Not everyone could afford marble or bronze, and I would think that there were less expensive versions manufactured for people who weren't quite so wealthy. I have no authorities to cite either way; I haven't researched the question. But it makes intuitive sense to me that molded pottery busts of the royal family might have been mass-produced for the consumer market.

 

I agree that maybe Lucilla's face is a bit rounder...than your piece. The hair bun appears similar, but that was the style for Roman ladies at the time.

Lucilla Augusta, AD 164-169.

Æ sestertius, 30mm, 24g, 6h. Rome mint.

Obverse: LVCILLA AVG ANTONINI AVG F; Draped bust right.

Reverse: IVNONI LVCINAE; Juno seated left, holding infant and flower // SC

Reference: RIC 1747.

From the Mat Collection.





In contrast here is Faustina Senior:

Faustina...

AR Denarius, 20mm 3.1 grams

Obverse: Diva Faustina Sr AR Denarius. DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right

Reverse: AETE-R-NITAS, Aeternitas, Providentia, or Urania standing front holding globe, veil blowing out around head.

Reference: RSC 32, RIC 351





Note that her hair is not in a bun, so this may have been popular in earlier days. We certainly would not want to have a dated hairstyle!

 

I do too. I've bought from Helios on a number of occasions over the years. I particularly like their Roman glass, such as this vase I bought from them in January of this year:

Dealer's description: Roman, 1st Century AD, blue/purple glass vase with wide folded rim and piriform [pear-shaped] body; surface has areas of vivid violet and blue iridescence. 12.4 cm high, 5.7 cm wide. Purchased Jan. 2021 from Helios Gallery, UK. Ex. Collection of Eric Moussel (1953-2019), Nogent-sur-Marne, France, acquired in Paris.

Dealer's photos:







With my own camera, even though I can see the violet/purple with my eyes in certain light at certain angles, I couldn't capture it in photos. Instead, it looks more dark blue, but that's accurate as well depending on the lighting. I hope you can see why I think it looks like the night sky:

 

Donna, You bring up some good points. It's entirely probable that terracotta busts of imperial women were made for the patrician crowd, especially for some of the ladies who were ruling on behalf of their young immature sons. Unless a terracotta bust has an embossed or impressed inscription on it we can never be sure who it is.

 

You're right, it's all speculation! I do think it's more likely that there might have been "souvenir" terracotta busts of empresses made during the Antonine dynasty, when there began to be an emphasis on both the emperor and empress as the father and mother of the empire.

 

That is a beautiful artefact!
Before I read the write-up, I thought it looked like Faustina II. Perhaps it's just the hairstyle. Though I'm sure that was all the rage back then.

It reminded me most of my Faustina II Sestertius

 

Is it possible that the sculptor intended to show the different sizes of Faustina's eyes because she suffered from strabism. This fact is known in the Empress History ?

 

If it is known from literary sources that Faustina II had some sort of issue with her eyes, I'm not aware of it. @Roman Collector would probably know.