Hellenistic marble portrait head of a Ptolemy VIII

Ptolemaic Period, 2nd century BC (170 -116 BC)
Height: 38 cm
 
This over life-sized head of Ptolemy VIII in his youth, wearing a diadem atop his curls, is in a distinctly Greek, rather than Egyptian style. The Grecian youthfulness and naturalistic qualities are overlaid on characteristically Egyptian features of a brow which moulds seamlessly into the nose and deep set, almost unnaturally large eyes. The fine crystalline marble was almost certainly imported to Egypt from Greece.
 
Provenance: Private collection Switzerland acquired mid 1960s and thence by descent.