Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art

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

Lot Closed

July 5, 02:57 PM GMT

Estimate

7,000 - 10,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

A Roman Bronze Figure of Aphrodite

Eastern Mediterranean, circa 2nd Century A.D.

standing on a stepped pedestal and resting her weight on the right leg, the left knee advanced, her right hand held to her breast, her left arm slightly extended holding the fragmentary handle of a mirror, her head turned to the left with centrally parted wavy hair tied in a chignon and surmounted by an engraved foliate diadem.

Height 28.8 cm.

Edward J. Smith, Weehawken, New Jersey (Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, December 7th, 1973, no. 78, illus.)

Sotheby's, London, December 9th, 1974, no. 119, illus.

Sotheby's, New York, December 17th, 1996. no. 296, illus.

Spanish art market

acquired by the present owner from the above in 2023

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 accompanied 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, 2000, p. 202).

For a related example see Sotheby’s, London, July 4th, 2023, no. 112. Another is in the collection of the Walter's Art Museum, Baltimore, inv. no. 54.949 (http://art.thewalters.org/detail/15618/venus-2/).