The veiled woman is standing in a relaxed pose with her head
slightly turned to her left. The weight of her body is mainly
on her right leg, with the left lightly flexed at the knee and
only the slightest sway of her hips. Her sandalled feet are
almost entirely covered by her long dress (chiton?). She wears
a voluminous mantle that envelops her from her shoulders to
below her knees. With her right arm - raised to the height of
her chest - she draws a fold of the mantle diagonally across
her chest in a manner characteristic of the type. Her left arm
hangs down by her side, the hand partially hidden under the
cloth. The veil covers the back of her head, revealing the hair
to be in melonen-frisur style. Wavy strands of hair frame her
oval face at the hairline; on her forehead are two antithetical
curls on either side of the centre parting - as in the portrait
of the Roman matron (Inv. 535). Her features are clear and calm
with slightly lowered eyes with thick eyelids, a long nose and
a small mouth with fairly fleshy lips. Iconographically, the
statue appears very similar to the eponymous version in Dresden.[1]
Though found separately, the head and body were carved from
a single block of marble, apart from the very top of the head,
which was attached separately. [2] The type is one of the most
common for honorific representations of women in the Roman east;
indicating a value-set of shared cultural roots, social standing
and appropriate female virtues. [3] See also the headless statue
of a draped woman. Though the face is not formally a portrait
the figure should be interpreted within a civic context and
not as a deity.