Head of a Woman (600s BCE): Art, History and Details

Head of a Woman (600s BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Amber, a form of fossilized tree resin, was much prized in the ancient Mediterranean world, perhaps due to its mysterious luminosity, fragrance, and magnetism. It was often carved into figures or heads of humans, animals, or mythical creatures. Small perforations on this head suggest that it may once have been mounted, perhaps for use as a pendant. Although now opaque and crackled due to age, in antiquity the surface probably exhibited some degree of translucence, a valued attribute for amulets and ornaments.

Object facts

• Title: Head of a Woman
• Date: 600s BCE
• Culture: Italy, Etruscan, "Italic"
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: amber
• Dimensions: Overall: 8 x 4.5 x 3.7 cm (3 1/8 x 1 3/4 x 1 7/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Etruscan
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1992.61

A detail from the museum

Amber is fossilized ancient tree sap, often imported from the Baltic to the Mediterranean region.

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1992.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (February 1993): 38–79.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.