A Bronze Figure of Aphrodite, Eastern Roman Empire , circa 2nd Century A.D.

standing with her weight on her left leg and holding both hands before her, each formerly holding an implement or attribute, her oval face with parted lips and eyes with recessed pupils, her centrally parted wavy hair gathered in a chignon at the back, falling in long corkscrew curls over her shoulders, and surmounted by a stephane crowned with palmettes.

said to have been found in Syria
Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Catalogue des antiquités composant la collection Hakky-Bey, May 31st-June 2nd, 1906, no. 246, pl. VII
French private collection, early 20th Century
by descent to the present owner

Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, vol. IV, Paris, 1913, p. 211, no. 3, illus.
Marie-Odile Jentel, s.v. "Aphrodite (in peripheria orentali)," Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, vol. II.1, Zurich, 1984, no. 104

Crown and fingers chipped, nose rubbed, surface stripped and repatinated, small batch of restoration behind proper left knee
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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The distinctive style of the present figure indicates that it originated in the Eastern Mediterranean, probably in the Roman provinces of Syria (see L. de Clercq, Collection de Clercq, Paris, 1888-1911, vol. 3, pls. 12-13, 23, 34, etc.). Statuettes such as the present one were created for private devotional use and placed in domestic lararia, or house-shrines; "Based on ... documents [from Roman Egypt], such as marriage and mortgage contracts, these effigies of the goddess acompanied the bride in her daily life so as to guarantee her happiness and prosperity. Throughout the Mediterranean in the Roman period, brides and mothers made offerings to similar statuettes for the blessings of Aphrodite, such as... fertility and harmony [in] their married lives" (Chr. Kondoleon, ed., Antioch, the Lost Ancient City, Worcester, Mass., 2000, p. 202).