The distinctive features of this head, of a type traditionally called "Syrian," suggest that it is a portrait of a real but unknown woman. Anomalies in its style and bearing as well as problems deriving from excessive cleaning in the nineteenth century prevent an attribution of it to a specific period or place. The soft modeling of the facial features, the hairstyle, and the raised and turned head follow the Hellenistic tradition of sculpture, seen in the Yale University Art Gallery's Head of Aphrodite or a Muse (1882.2). These elements and the eastern features are similar to those found in portraits of Kleopatra VII (reigned 69–30 B.C.), but no positive identification can be made. The head's cool and impassive bearing, moreover, relate it to the style of portraits of the empress Livia from the first half of the first century A.D.