Ca. 323 BC-395 AD. Graeco-Roman Period. A marble head of a woman on a modern stand. This elegant piece principally uses the Classical style. Her wavy hair is centrally parted and drawn to the sides in typical style of this period, except for a slight fringe falling downwards as well. There is a breakage on the neck where this would have been attached to a larger statue or bust. It may represent a Ptolemaic queen. Many of these queens received royal cults and were deified as a way of ingratiating the people to the Macedonian royal family. These cults sought to promote the queens to both Greek and Egyptian audiences, and many images of these women were created as a result. Marble was not used in Egypt before the Graeco-Roman Period, but after the conquests of Alexander the Great, Egypt produced art of Egyptian styles, Greek styles, and styles that incorporated the two – this also meant using materials common in the Greek style, including marble imported from the northern Mediterranean. Size: L:without stand, 155mm / W:115mm ; 2.5kg. From a London private family collection; formerly acquired on the UK art market in the 1960s - 1970s; thence by descent.