A beautiful and serene carved alabaster bust of a young woman styled as Diana the Huntress, in the style of Jean-Antoine Houdon, the renowned Parisian sculptor (1741– 1828). In this example, Diana is looking over her shoulder to her right, draped in classical attire with her hair gathered up. In Roman mythology, Diana is the goddess of the hunt and of the night. Houdon made several versions of Diana over his lifetime, in plaster, metal and marble, with this copied example probably being modelled on a bust made in 1778. The piece is signed on the reverse.