Museum collection · Cleveland Museum of Art · 1989.74
Head of a Young Woman
Unknown maker, 25–1 BCE
Cleveland Museum of Art · John L. Severance Fund · Public domain
- Artist
- Unknown maker
- Date
- 25–1 BCE
- Medium
- marble
- Dimensions
- Overall: 23 x 19.5 x 18.5 cm (9 1/16 x 7 11/16 x 7 5/16 in.)
- Era
- Museum collection
Why it matters
This head of a young woman is designed after Greek art in the Archaic period (c. 600–480 BCE). She references a type of Greek statue called a kore in her heavily patterned hair, almond-shaped eyes, neutral expression, and large disk earrings, best preserved on the right ear. Her stephane or diadem crown is from the later Hellenistic period; however, with the addition of the decorative vegetal scroll it is characteristic of Roman art. All these elements together are not found in original Greek archaic artworks. This ancient combination of deliberately historic styles is called archaizing or archaistic by modern scholars.