CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

The slightly-hunched shoulders and the position of her arms recall a Hellenistic statue of the 2nd century B.C. depicting Aphrodite in the final preparations for her bath, with all her clothing removed but for her sandals (see C.M. Havelock, Hellenistic Art: The Art of the Classical World from the Death of Alexander the Great to the Battle of Actium, no. 87). The overt eroticism of the pose is befitting the goddess of love and beauty and was reproduced numerous times in different scales and media.