Female Bust

The statue is in two parts, the head and the bust which they did not belong to each other. The head is of a young female, executed in an idealised way, the face is of delicate physiognomy, the eyes perfectly oval and the mouth small and curvaceous. She has a perky and bright expression which may indicate that she is a goddess or a mythological figure executed in a post classical mode. Her hair is also heavily idealised, she has thick ropey strands of hair with a wave from the centre to the longer shoulder rocks. However as there are no particular attributes it is difficult to identify her. It is also difficult to tell whether the bust is ancient or from the18th century. The hair on the crown is unfinished and this suggests that it may have not been intended to be seen and may have been covered, most likely by a diadem. The head is weathered and has breakage. it is very different to Grand Tour collections and other female Ince Blundell pieces. The bust also has some unusual features such as the tunic which is worn under a heavy cloak and encircles the torso with the curved neckline. Several folds descending from the left shoulder fall diagonally across the chest and there is a bulge on the right, at the point of the right elbow with the arm bending upwards. Bartman noted that this a familiar pose for statues of Pudicia but proposed that the cloak links this statue more with the type of Aspasia. Bartman's interpretation believed that the Ince example may have been cut out of an ancient whole statue of Aspasia. The underside of it does not have a finished edge and is not turned upwards at the sides. In Roman times Aspasia was popular as a Greek original and a stocky type for female portraits.