Describe the characteristics of the 1980s in Bust of Cleopatra's Identification history.
Robert S. Bianchi, also of the Brooklyn Museum, suggested the bust was either of a Queen or Goddess because "the appearance of the uraeus on the hair band is an attribute common to both." Bianchi thought a more precise identification would have been possible "had the annulets on the crown of the head been preserved."
Neckline: Bianchi decided to focus on other sculpted features of the bust "for the chronological criteria." He made note of the "concave, raised neckline" on the statue and compared the features of the neckline with other Ptolemaic statues of women from the Musées royaux d'art et d'histoire in Brussels, Belgium (English: Royal Museums of Art and History) and the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. The statues Bianchi used to compare with the ROM's piece were both dated between 200-100 BC.Facial Features: Bianchi also identified the bust's time period using the sculpting style of the facial features. He noted "The face is modeled in broad planes without the addition of linear adjuncts, and the treatment of the eyes, with a creased upper lid which passes over the lower, recalls features common to sculptures assigned to 3rd and 2nd centuries BC."With this research, evidence began to suggest that the statue belonging to the ROM had different characteristics when compared with other Ptolemaic statues from the 240-200 BC period. Bianchi's research challenged the first commonly accepted identification of the statue by dating the fragment to between 200 and 100 BC, and by giving merit to the possibility that the statue in fact depicts a goddess.
Brooklyn Museum annulet Ptolemaic Yale University Art Gallery uraeus Royal Museums of Art and History Musées royaux d'art et d'histoire