The smaller-than-life head expresses poignancy in the slight tilt to the right and languid upward gaze, accentuated by the recessed eye sockets. The elongated oval face is framed by hair and the head may have been circled by a crown or other ornament. The work shows a remarkable expressiveness, typical of some Egyptian Ptolemaic portraits; in particular it recalls the marble head of Arsinoe III of the Serapeum at Alexandria.