Head of a Lady

1st century-early 2nd century CE · Sculpture

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Head of a Lady” now? Collection: Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

Harvard Art Museums

Cambridge, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 12 days ago
In this state since: Sep 27, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the sculpture

Head of a Lady

There is extensive use of the drill in the hair, creating a honeycomb pattern. The top of the head has been broken at the back, and there is a horizontal dowel-hole back to front.

This head came perhaps from a large stele or the couch-figure of a sarcophagus of Sidamara type. A head in Istanbul from Ovabayindir Balikesir, in western Phrygia or eastern Lydia, has been dated in the Neronian to Flavian periods and gives a more elegant, curlier-headed version of how ladies like the Harvard example developed in Asia Minor, suggesting, too, that the Harvard head could be one of the last examples of the honeycomb hair style and might have been produced under Trajan (A.D. 98-117) or Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) (Inan, Rosenbaum, 1966, pp. 108-109, no. 110, pl. LXIV, figs. 3, 4; compare also, pp. 112-113, nos. 116, 117, pl. LXX, two Flavian women in Bergama, from Pergamon).

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There are also many such women on couches from finds in the area of Rome, but they usually lie flat on their pillows and do not have the fullness of this head, unless they are little children, servants, or seasonal genii (Wrede, 1981a, Heft I, pp. 89-96, figs. 3-7).

Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer

Harvard Art Museums