Tête de roi avec némès

King’s head with nemes

The traditional nemes, worn by the sovereign, was composed of a white cloth with red stripes, held by a gilded headband that left the hair in front of the ears visible. Behind the head, the round end of that head cloth, open to allow a braid to pass through, is an invitation to set aside the idea that this head belonged to a small sphinx. The break suggests rather the original existence of a dorsal column, thus indicating that the statuette must have been that of a person standing.

In addition, the reduced dimensions of this head prevent us from considering it a “sculptor’s model,” attestations of which became common in the third century B.C. The royal head, identified by the traces of a uraeus located above the fastener at the front of the nemes, has preserved the holes for attaching the upright cobra, as well as one of the snake’s coils. The sovereign’s face reveals a painstaking and very refined execution, which, while rendering idealized features, nevertheless stamps the portrait with a certain youthfulness. The cheeks are full, the elongated eyes stylized with a double line, slightly apart from the eyelashes. The mouth is well drawn, the philtral dimple indicated under the nose, which is unfortunately broken. A serenity emanates from this relaxed face.

A recent analysis of the evolution of Ptolemaic statuary [1] has revealed the development of several artistic tendencies, including the representation of a certain embonpoint on the part of the young sovereigns, a vogue of the second and first centuries B.C. Although this face cannot be formally identified with the known portraits of Ptolemies V to VIII, it is rather tempting to situate this royal head between the second and first centuries B.C.

[1] Cf. Stanwick 2002, pp. 56–57 and 69–71; cf. also Bothmer 1987, 88–92.