UN RITRATTO FEMMINILE TOLEMAICO (?) AL MUSEO GREGORIANO EGIZIO

A well-preserved marble portrait in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio, formerly belonging to the Grassi Collection, and from the Cairo antique market, has been thought in the past to represent Ptolemy I or Ptolemy II, and has been dated to the II century B.C. or to the Julio-Claudian period. A new analysis has revealed that the coiffure indicates a woman. The portrait probably depicts an elderly Ptolemaic queen of the II century B.C., when a new royal ideal gained ground and forceful portrait sculpture began to be used for female members of the royal family.