South Arabian alabaster head of a woman

myminifactory

The statuette boasts a head with a long tapering neck and shield-shaped face. Thin arching brows frame almond-shaped eyes inlaid with white stone, the pupils originally made of glass or lapis (mostly missing). Her long straight nose rises above a narrow mouth. Her roughly chiseled hair appears tucked behind small, protruding ears. This rough finish to the hair and top of the head may have allowed the figure to be finished with the addition of plaster or stucco. The alabaster base is ancient, although it's unclear if it was originally part of this statuette. The stepped form is more commonly associated with altars but could have been reused. This type of head is linked to the kingdom of Qataban, which, along with Ma'in, Saba, Himyar, and Hadhramaut, formed one of the five kingdoms in southern Arabia. Pliny the Elder recorded that Timna, the capital of this ancient kingdom, was a bustling metropolis housing as many as 65 temple complexes. The area's wealth came from its control over the ancient cinnamon and incense trade routes. Archaeologists first excavated the site in the 1950s under the direction of American archaeologist Wendell Phillips (W. Phillips, 'Qataban and Sheba: Exploring the Ancient Kingdoms on the Biblical Spice Routes of Arabia', London, 1955). This statuette comes from the collection of the late Ralph Hinshelwood Daly OBE (1924-2006), who acquired it prior to 1967. In 1955, Daly joined the Colonial Service and was posted to the Aden Protectorates, which today form the Republic of Yemen. It was there that he met his wife Elizabeth Anne Daly (née Fenton Wells) and acquired a collection of alabaster sculptures. In 1967, the Aden Protectorates gained independence from Britain, and Ralph, awarded an OBE for his work, retired from the Colonial Service and returned to Europe with Elizabeth, taking their collection of alabasters with them.