Quartermaine Hall

Artisan: Town Square Miniatures
Date: Unknown
Dimensions: 57 x 30 x 25 mm. / 2 ¼ x 1 ¼ x 1 inches (height x width x depth)
Inventory number: 2022.007
Intended Room: Library
Category: Antiquities

As far as possible, we’ve tried to avoid mass-produced miniatures, but occasionally something comes up which just can’t be resisted. This little bronze portrait bust is one of six which I spotted on eBay. They were manufactured by Town Square Miniatures which, I’m ashamed to say, does mean that they were made in China, but I haven’t seen anything else quite like them, and they were ideal. I can’t wait to see how marvellous they’ll look arranged on top of the bookshelves in Quartermaine Hall’s library.

This is based on the marble Fonseca Bust, a portrait of a wealthy lady with a truly stupendous coiffure, which is in the Musei Capitolini in Rome. A hairstyle of this kind would obviously have taken some time to achieve, requiring the assistance of a couple of maids, an under-structure to help pad the hair, curling irons and hair extensions, probably including pin-on false curls. We know that ladies of the Flavian dynasty, who ruled Rome from 69-96 AD, favoured this look, but unfortunately we don’t know this identity of this fashionable woman.

She’s the tallest of all the busts in the set and, yes, that’s entirely due to the hair…