A Roman marble female portrait bust. North Africa, circa 2nd Century A.D.

With an acquiline nose, shapely lips and small rounded chin, her large heavy lidded eyes set beneath a defined brow, her wavy hair centrally parted, wearing earrings and a tunic, the back roughly hewn, probably from a relief, 14½in (36.8cm) high, mounted. Estimate: £10,000 - 15,000

Provenance:Private collection since the early 1980s.

Literature: For a similar bust, cf. S. Walker & M. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces, Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt, (London 1997), fig 272, p.197-8.

Bonhams. Antiquities, 29 Apr 2009. New Bond Street www.bonhams.com (Copyright © 2002-2009 Bonhams 1793 Ltd., Images and Text All Rights Reserved)