† AN IMPORTANT ROMAN MARBLE HEAD OF JUNO, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY AD

Published: Photographs recorded in the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Rom Fotothek, nos. 29.360-29.361. Arachne Online Database, German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the Cologne Digital Archaeology Laboratory (CoDArchLab): University of Cologne, Arachne ID 1124916.

This head was first photographed in a private collection in Rome in 1929 by Cesare Faraglia (1865-1946) for the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Rom Fotothek, nos. 29.360-29.361. He was the archaeological photographer of choice for the most prominent Roman scholars and collectors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Ludwig Pollak and Giovanni Baracco. Faraglia is most known for his work in association with the British School at Rome and with the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, for whom this head was photographed. To emphasize his close connection with these institutions, Faraglia advertised himself as photographer of “Institutes and Archeological Schools,” as reproduced on his stamps and advertisements.

Expert’s note: This splendid life-size head of the queen of the gods is closely related to a monumental example now in Palazzo Altemps in Rome, the so-called Juno Ludovisi (see literature comparison). The two figures share the same unadorned, high-arching, crescentic diadem as well as the wavy, center-parted hair swept back, with distinguishing locks escaping before the ears. Also similar is the modeling of the face with its rounded chin and lips deeply drilled at the corners.

The deeply hollowed eyes of the present head, however, set it clearly apart from Juno Ludovisi. In our example, Juno’s eyes were designed to receive inlays (now lost), most likely of contrasting materials such as ivory or marble for the sclera and dark stone, obsidian, or glass for the pupils. This technique, favored in the late Republic and early Imperial period, produced an arresting realism and a vivid gaze that set such portraits apart.

From the 2nd century AD onward, sculptors increasingly carved the eyes into the marble, as seen in Juno Lodovisi, a shift in fashion and workshop practice that marked the decline of popularity of inlays. The sockets of the present head therefore possibly point to an earlier date within this tradition. As Verena Hoft has demonstrated in her survey of Roman inlaid eyes (Aigeiros Lecture, 2015), and as Jennifer M. S. Stager has more recently emphasized (Inlaid Eyes, Effluences, and Opsis, in Seeing Color in Classical Art, Cambridge 2022), the transition from inlaid to carved eyes is a well-established chronological indicator in Roman portraiture.

The head is supported on a long slender neck, her oval face shows a rounded chin and slightly parted full lips, the almond-shaped eyes with thick lids, drilled at their inner canthi, the thin modeled brows arching gracefully and merging with the bridge of her nose, her forehead peaked at the center, her luscious wavy hair center-parted, the individual strands delineated, pulled over the tops of her ears, bound in a double band and tied in a chignon at the nape of her neck.

Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Obvious losses, natural fissures, small chips, signs of weathering and erosion, minor encrustations.

Provenance:
- Private Collection, Rome, by 1929. Photographs recorded in the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Rom Fotothek, nos. 29.360-29.361.
- Sotheby’s London, 9 December 1974, lot 126.
- A private collection, acquired from the above.
- Sotheby's New York, 23 June 1989, lot 130.
- The private collection of a New York antiquarian, acquired from the above.
- Christie’s New York, 6 October 2022, lot 11, mid-estimate of USD 200,000 or approx. EUR 185,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing.

Weight: 17.3 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 32 cm (excl. stand), 48 cm (excl. stand)

Mounted on an associated stand. (2)

Juno was one of the principal goddesses of ancient Rome, revered as the protector of women and the divine guardian of marriage and childbirth. As the consort of Jupiter and member of the Capitoline Triad with Jupiter and Minerva, she embodied both political and domestic power. She was also the patron deity of the Roman state, honored in festivals such as the Matronalia. Closely identified with the Greek goddess Hera, Juno was depicted in art with regal attributes, often wearing a crown or diadem, symbolizing her status as queen of the gods.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related sketch of Hera or Juno, illustrated by Alexander Stuart Murray, in the Manual of Mythology: Greek and Roman, Norse and Old German, Hindoo and Egyptian Mythology, 1887, p. 49, pl. IV. Compare the present head, although more idealized, with the so-called Juno Ludovisi, thought to represent Antonia Minor in the guise of the goddess, now in Palazzo Altemps in Rome. Compare a related marble head, possibly Artemis, dated to the late 3^rd-early 2^nd century BC, 31.5 cm, in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, inventory number Hm 136. Verena Hoft, Inlaid Eyes. A Contribution to Polychromy in Roman Stone Sculpture, Aigeiros Lecture, 21 May 2015. Jennifer M. S. Stager, Inlaid Eyes, Effluences, and Opsis, Chapter 4 in Seeing Color in Classical Art: Theory, Practice, and Reception, from Antiquity to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2022).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 9 December 2010, lot 150
Price: USD 410,500 or approx. EUR 516,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Roman marble head of Aphrodite, circa 1^st-2^nd century
Expert remark: Note the size (40.6 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 8 June 2012, lot 231
Price: USD 386,500 or approx. EUR 464,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Roman marble head of Apollo, circa 2^nd century
Expert remark: Note the size (38.1 cm).