Lot 43
43
A GREEK TERRACOTTA APHRODITE
THE PROPERTY OF THE ESTATE OF MIRIAM THORNE GILPATRIC
A GREEK TERRACOTTA APHRODITE

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.

Details
A GREEK TERRACOTTA APHRODITE
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.
Representing the "Birth of Aphrodite," the goddess emerging from an open scallop shell, depicted with her knees bent and torso twisted, nude but for her mantle draped across her right thigh, holding the ends of the drapery in both hands, her wavy hair bound in a sakkos, on a high cylindrical plinth, extensive polychromy preserved throughout, including a band of meander at the base of the plinth
7 in. (17.8 cm.) high
Provenance
Acquired in the 1970s.

Lot Essay

According to Hesiod, Aphrodite was born when Kronos threw the severed genitals of his father Uranus into the ocean. As the sea began to churn about them, the goddess arose from the aphros, or sea foam, hence her name, Aphrodite. For the type see nos. 1013-1017 in Delivorrias, et al., "Aphrodite" in LIMC.

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