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Female head

Italic, Etruscan
Classical or Hellenistic Period
4th century B.C.

Medium/Technique Terracotta
Dimensions Height: 20.3 cm (8 in.)
Credit Line Everett Fund
Accession Number88.359
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsSculpture

DescriptionRelief of female head. Hair in fringe, parted in the center over brows, becoming curly at the sides. Above, a simple diadem, and behind all a flat flange. Slightly rounded back, unworked, no vent hole. Hollow. Said to be from Cerveteri.
ProvenanceDecember 1885, discovered by Don Mariano Lazzari on the “Vignaccia” property of Francesco Rosati near Cerveteri, Italy, and sold, through Pietro Pennelli, to Rodolfo Lanciani (b. 1845 -d. 1929), Rome [see note 1]; 1888, sold by Lanciani to the MFA for $491.89 [see note 2]. (Accession date: May 1, 1888)

NOTES:
[1] As part of a votive deposit containing a few thousand objects, mostly terracottas, including anatomical votives, heads and busts wearing elaborate jewelry, animals, and a few singular finds (see L. Borsari, in Notizie degli scavi di antichità (1886), pp. 38-39, and American Journal of Archaeology 2.2 (1886), p. 218). Twelve objects from this deposit were eventually sold to the MFA (88.353-88.364). For a discussion of the discovery and MFA objects, see H. Nagy, in Etruscan Studies 11 (2008), pp. 101-119.
[2] This figure is the total price for MFA 88.345-88.530.