Antiquities & Ancient Art: Including Property from the Brummer Collection

Provenance: 

Ernest Brummer (1891-1964), Paris & New York.

Ella Bache Brummer, New York, 1964-1999; thence by descent to her nephew, Dr. John Laszlo, Atlanta, Georgia. 

Published: 

For The Brummer Gallery Records at The Metropolitan Museum Cloisters Library and Archive, see Object Inventory Card Number: X1283

This impeccably preserved head is sculpted in porphyry, a stone that was only available in quarries located in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. The plain, idealizing features of its cordiform, or heart-shaped face, are enhanced by eyes originally inlaid with secondary material(s). The wig is parted down the center and pulled to each side of the head at the back forming a distinctive A-shaped depression, characteristic of Egyptian art. Such a coiffure, with numerous variations, is gender specific because it is the style of choice for numerous representations of women during the Middle Kingdom. Nevertheless, three significant details suggest a dating of this portrait into a later period. The first observation is that the hair band does not wrap around the entire head, as would be expected, but is restricted to the front view. Secondly, the presence of a fascia at the outer corner of each eye has to be understood as a sculptural convention indicating that the upper eyelid is passing over the lower lid. This detail gained popularity during Dynasty XXVI and thereafter. Thirdly, the design and execution of the empty socket in which the inlays for the eye were anchored are distinctively designed as a thickly sculpted upper and lower eyelid. These three characteristics are congruent with an entire repertoire of statues created for the Roman Emperor Domitian (A.D. 81-96) which populated his sanctuary to the goddess Isis at Benevento, Italy. The use of porphyry would confirm such a dating. This female porphyry head appears, therefore, to have been created during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian during the last half of the first century A.D. in response to one of the prevailing aesthetic, Egyptomania tastes of the time by a true Roman connoisseur who knew and appreciated the elevated social status that owning a work of art in porphyry would provide.

For the Brummer Collection, and this portrait head in particular, see The Brummer Gallery Records at The Metropolitan Museum Cloisters Library and Archive- "Egyptian sculpture, glass plate negatives-009" [https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll9/id/65006/rec/16]; and M. Bierbrier, Who was who in Egyptology, 4th revised ed. London: The Egypt Exploration Society, 2012, p. 85.

For porphyry, see D. Bufalo, Porphyry : Red Imperial Porphyry: Power and Religion. Torino, 2012; V. Maxfield and P. David, The Roman imperial quarries: survey and excavation at Mons Porphyrites 1994-1998, vol. 1: Topography and quarries. Egypt Exploration Society, Excavation Memoir 67, London, 2001; T. Putter and C. Karlshausen, Pierres de l'Égypte ancienne: guide des matériaux de l'architecture, de la sculpture et de la joaillerie, revised and expanded ed. Connaissance de l'Égypte ancienne 20, Bruxelles, 2022, Safran, p. 234-239 for imperial porphyry, and p. 240-245 for porphyre noir.

For the art historical discussion, see S. Ashton, A question of authenticity and date: Roman copies and Ptolemaic originals, British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 2, 2002, p. 1-10; H. Müller, Der Isiskult im antiken Benevent und Katalog der Skulpturen aus den ägyptischen Heiligtümern im Museo del Sannio zu Benevent. Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 16, Münchener Universitätsschriften, Philosophische Faklutät. Berlin, 1969; R. Pirelli, "The Imperial Iseum in Benevento and its Zoomorphic Gods," in Pirelli, R., M. D. Pubblico, and S. Ikram (eds.), Animals in Religion, Economy and Daily Life in Ancient Egypt and beyond, Naples, 2023, p. 311-330; A. Tooley, Notes on the Type 1 truncated figurines: the Ramesseum ladies, In Miniaci, Gianluca, Marilina Betrò, and Stephen Quirke (eds), Company of images: modeling the imaginary world of Middle Kingdom Egypt (2000-1500 BC). Proceedings of the International Conference of the EPOCHS Project held 18th-20th September 2014 at UCL, London, 2017, p. 421-456.