Portrait of a woman ("Ponsonby head")

Found in Ostia, perhaps around 1800. Until 1841 part of the Jones collection. Property of the Ponsonby family by 1854. Donated to the museum in 1905.
Date: Trajanic-Hadrianic (Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer); 280-270 BC (Raissa Calza). H. 0.345.

The head cover points to an oriental origin of the woman. The (original) portrait belongs to the years around 300 BC. There has been much speculation about the identity of this woman.

SO V, nr. 5. Photo: Fogg Art Museum. Fogg Art Museum info.

Also in Cambridge: an inscribed funerary altar (CIL XIV, 1281; EDR165222).