CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE VENUS
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
14 1⁄2 in. (36 cm.) high

Provenance

Hôtel des Ventes, Cantini, Marseille, 20 November 1975, lot 87.
French private collection, acquired from the above and thence by descent.

Special notice

From time to time, Christie's may offer a lot which it owns in whole or in part. This is such a lot. This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

As it was common practice throughout the Roman world, regional deities of the various provinces were 'assimilated' into the official pantheon and venerated both locally and in Rome itself. Venus was particularly loved in the provinces of Egypt and the Near East and was often assimilated with existing female deities such as Isis/Aphrodite in Egypt or Ishtar/Aphrodite in Syria and the Near East. This beautiful bronze of Venus falls within this specific category of representations of Venus probably created in Egypt in connection to the mysteric cult of Isis/Aphrodite. The goddess is depicted standing nude, adorned with armlets and a diadem.

For a similar example of the Oriental type now in the Baltimore Walters Art Gallery (inv. no. 54.949) see, M. Jentel, 'Aphrodite (in Peripheria Orientali)', in LIMC, Zurich and Munich, 1984, p. 159, no. 107.

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