CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE FORTUNA
CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
Standing with weight on her right leg, wearing a floor-length chiton, slipping off her right shoulder, a himation pulled up over her left shoulder, falling in front with multiple thick vertical folds, tightly wrapped around her lower torso, the left arm bent at the elbow to cradle her cornucopia, now fragmentary
40½ in. (103 cm.) high

Provenance

with Sello, Locarno, Switzerland, 1960s-1970s.
with Donati Arte Classica, Lugano, Switzerland, 1970s-1996.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Tyche, Fortuna was not only the goddess of chance and luck, but was also associated with fertility as well as with political and military power. Fortuna enjoyed numerous cults at Rome and was used by emperors such as Augustus for the promotion of their leadership. In statuary the goddess is commonly depicted with abundant drapery and a cornucopia.
For the type, cf. F. Rausa, 'Tyche/Fortuna', Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, VIII, 1997, pp. 115-141. For similar drapery on a Fortuna statue, see a marble torso at the British Museum, London, ac. no. 1861,1127.152.

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