Object Details
Description
Head and bust of a woman in high relief. The left hand grasps her garment while the right, with two fingers extended, touchers her face. Her expression is pensive. She wears three necklaces, earrings and two rings on her left little finger. A brooch with a six-pointed ornament is affixed to her garment. Behind her is a draped cloth supported by two medallions adorned with sheaths of wheat, in front of a patterned background.
Inscriptions
The inscriptions carved on this relief bust, written in Aramaic, identify the figure as a woman named Haliphat and date her death to the year 231.
Label
The inscriptions carved on this relief bust, written in Aramaic, identify the figure as a woman named Haliphat and date her death to the year 231 C.E. The bust is from Palmyra, a city in southern Syria that flourished during the Roman Empire as a caravan oasis on the trade route linking the Mediterranean with West and Central Asia.
Many members of Palmyra's prosperous merchant class commissioned such funerary busts depicting fashionably dressed individuals; women often wear elaborate jewelry. The busts covered the openings of burial compartments in family tombs located in the desert outside Palmyra.
Provenance
To 1908
Joseph Marcopoli, Aleppo, Syria, to 1908 [1]
From 1908 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Joseph Marcopoli, Aleppo, in 1908 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Reserved Miscellaneous List, R. 5601, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
[2] See note 1.
[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History
Palmyra (June 5 to December 14, 2015; August 13, 2018 - ongoing)
Facing East: Portraits from Asia (July 1 to September 4, 2006)
America Meets Asia at the Freer Gallery of Art (May 9, 1993 to August 8, 1994)
Christian Art (January 1, 1963 to May 15, 1968)
Untitled Exhibition, Armenian and Byzantine Art (July 28, 1958 to January 1, 1963)
Centennial Exhibition, Gallery 6 Alcove (February 25, 1956 to July 22, 1958)
Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Near Eastern Art, East Corridor (October 26 to November 10, 1955)
Special Exhibition, Armenian Manuscripts and East Christian Art (February 15, 1955 to April 13, 1955)
Untitled Exhibition, Ancient Near Eastern Art, 1947 (June 18, 1947 to October 26, 1955)
Previous custodian or owner
Joseph Marcopoli (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Date
3rd century (dated 231 CE)
Accession Number
F1908.236
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Sculpture
Medium
Limestone
Dimensions
H x W x D (overall): 60.1 x 55.3 x 23 cm (23 11/16 x 21 3/4 x 9 1/16 in)
Origin
Palmyra, Homs, Syria
On View
West Building (Freer Gallery of Art), North Corridor
Related Online Resources
Google Arts & Culture
See more items in
National Museum of Asian Art
Data Source
National Museum of Asian Art
Topic
stone
portrait
funerary
woman
Syria
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Charles Lang Freer collection
Link to Original Record
Record ID
fsg_F1908.236