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HAIR-DRESSING OF ROMAN LADIES AS ILLUSTRATED ON COINS. |
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53 NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE Faustina “slept in her hair” like the English ladies of the eighteenth century. I append three examples from my husband's collection, and one from the British Museum. First, a silver-coated medallion, which has already been published in the Num. Chron. (Ser. III. vol. xi. p. 154, 1891): Illust. XXXIII. Secondly, a large brass coin (“consecratio”) : Illust. XXXIV. And thirdly, two in gold: Illust. XXXV, and XXXVI. The style will be seen to be identical in all of these. In sculpture the fine plaits are not always visible. The hair is sometimes massed in a thick plait at the top of the head, in a way to suggest a revival of the "tutulus " of early times. Such an example may be seen in the British Museum bust No. 1904; another is preserved in the Museum of the Capitol, Rome (see Bernouilli, Rom. Icon., ii. 2. 47). The beautiful chalcedony gem, from the "Marlborough" Collection, now in my husband's possession, similar in many respects to the one in the Museum at Constantinople, though officially ascribed to Faustina the Elder, is so little like her portrait on coins, while the hair is arranged with such ideal simplicity, that I venture to question the attribution.After death Faustina's hair is shown covered by a veil worn with a diadem. Illust. XXXVII. Faustina the Younger, daughter of Antoninus and Faustina I, and wife of Marcus Aurelius, died in 175A.D. Her style of hair‑dressing is, usually, girlish and simple. Illust. XXXVIII, In this style is the hair of the bust in the British Museum, No. 1905. Sometimes, however, she wears very fine plaits at the back, with loose braids in front, Illust, XXXIX.
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