CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF VENUS
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.
Based on the Aphrodite Anadyomene, the goddess depicted nude, originally standing with her weight on her left leg, the right slightly advanced and bent at the knee, the hip thrust to her left and the shoulders sloped down compressing her waist, the flesh with horizontal folds, her right arm originally raised, the left lowered, remnants of her long hair or a strut preserved on her right shoulder
13½ in. (34.3 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Collection, Switzerland, 1972.
Private Collection, New York, mid 1990s.

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Lot Essay

The Aphrodite Anadyomene is an early Hellenistic creation with many later copies and variations (see figs. 220-224 in Bieber, Ancient Copies). The goddess is not "rising from the sea" as the epithet implies, but rather she is arranging her hair, holding thick tresses in each hand before tying them together in a chignon. For a similar example in Munich, see no. 448 in Delivorrias, et al., "Aphrodite" in LIMC.

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