Lot Essay
For a similar Venus unbinding her sandal and framed in arching drapery see the example from Rome, now in the British Museum, no. 186 in Schmidt, "Venus" in LIMC.
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CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
Details
A ROMAN BRONZE VENUS
CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
Depicted nude but for a mantle draped over her arms, the flowing drapery once forming an arching canopy over her head, the ends fluttering to the sides, the goddess standing with her weight on her right leg, supporting herself by leaning with her acutely-bent left elbow, her right hand lowered to her sandaled left foot, with a crescentic diadem in her wavy center-parted hair, that is pulled into a pony-tail falling down her back, with tendrils along each shoulder, her eyes articulated
6 5/8 in. (16.8 cm.) high
CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
Depicted nude but for a mantle draped over her arms, the flowing drapery once forming an arching canopy over her head, the ends fluttering to the sides, the goddess standing with her weight on her right leg, supporting herself by leaning with her acutely-bent left elbow, her right hand lowered to her sandaled left foot, with a crescentic diadem in her wavy center-parted hair, that is pulled into a pony-tail falling down her back, with tendrils along each shoulder, her eyes articulated
6 5/8 in. (16.8 cm.) high
Provenance
French Private Collection.
with Galerie Samarcande, Paris.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1988, lot 166.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1989.
with Galerie Samarcande, Paris.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1988, lot 166.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1989.
Literature
C.C. Vermeule and J.M. Eisenberg, Catalogue of the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Bronzes in the Collection of John Kluge, New York and Boston, 1992, no. 89-50.
Exhibited
From Olympus to the Underworld, Ancient Bronzes from the John W. Kluge Collection, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 26 March - 23 June 1996.