Getty Museum

Portrait Bust of a Woman, possibly Octavia Minor

Date

20–10 B.C.

Medium

Marble

Culture

Roman

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

Large scale bust portraying a mature woman, with carefully sculpted facial features and signs of aging, such as a sagging jaw line, a double chin, and baggy eyes. The hair is unusually double-parted from the middle of the hair, combed forward and twisted into two separate strands on the front. The strands on the front and on the back are then gathered together at the nape of the neck, where they form a large, somewhat flattened and fan-shaped bun, hanging low upon the neck. The coiffure, which combined unique details with widely attested Augustan characteristics, helps to date the portrait to 20-10 B.C., and leads to a possible identification of the middle-aged, high ranked woman with Octavia Minor, sister of the Emperor Augustus and the wife of Marc Antony.

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