Roman statuette of Aphrodite, c.1st century AD
Bronze
Height: 15.6cm
12011
Solid cast in bronze, two twisted silver bangles around her left ankle. The goddess is shown removing her sandals, in preparation for her bath. She holds a fruit in her...
Solid cast in bronze, two twisted silver bangles around her left ankle. The goddess is shown removing her sandals, in preparation for her bath. She holds a fruit in her right hand, probably an apple, the wrist resting elegantly on a rudder against which the tail of a dolphin can be seen at the lower section. Her body is soft and sensuous, her breasts pert, her face gazing serenely ahead as she strikes this dynamic pose. Her hair is elaborate and finely incised; it is centrally parted and tied in knot at the top of her head, and in a chignon at the nape of her neck, with a long corkscrew tendril falling over each shoulder. The surface has a mottled green patina with patches of incrustation, her right foot missing.
The inclusion of the rudder in this statuette give the goddess her guise as Venus Marina. The rudder symbolises safe navigation and control over fate and fortune. Though the imagery of Venus with a rudder is well known in her role as Venus Pompeiana, in this role she is more commonly shown in full regalia, heavily cloaked in a mantle, standing erect with her right arm folded across her chest. It is much more unusual to see Venus nude and with the rudder and dolphin. Statuettes such as this were votive offerings by sailors in sanctuaries to Aphrodite all across the Mediterranean, and cannot be placed to a specific area such as those of Venus Pompeiana.
The hair is reminiscent of the Capitoline and Medici Aphrodite's.
The inclusion of the rudder in this statuette give the goddess her guise as Venus Marina. The rudder symbolises safe navigation and control over fate and fortune. Though the imagery of Venus with a rudder is well known in her role as Venus Pompeiana, in this role she is more commonly shown in full regalia, heavily cloaked in a mantle, standing erect with her right arm folded across her chest. It is much more unusual to see Venus nude and with the rudder and dolphin. Statuettes such as this were votive offerings by sailors in sanctuaries to Aphrodite all across the Mediterranean, and cannot be placed to a specific area such as those of Venus Pompeiana.
The hair is reminiscent of the Capitoline and Medici Aphrodite's.
Provenance
Private collection, Europe
Sotheby's, New York, 10th December 1999, lot 258
R.S.L. collection, London, UK; likely acquired from the above
Accompanied by letters from the relevant Greek and Italian authorities renouncing any current or future claim over this piece.
Literature
For examples in marble and terracotta compare Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Zurich, 1984), p.44, Aphrodite 464, and for an example in bronze showing Aphrodite in a different pose see ibid. p.164, Aphrodite (in per. or.) 124For an example in the same pose but without the rudder compare M. Comstock and C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan & Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, 1971), no.135
