CIRCA 2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

The pose and drapery of this elegant goddess — particularly evident in the voluminous kolpos (blousing) and apoptygma (overfold) — recall the group of Eirene holding the infant Plutos, although reversed (compare the figure in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 158 in C. Picón, Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Eirene, the daughter of Zeus and Themis, was one of three Seasons, closely associated with fecundity and the nurturing of children. The original bronze by Kephisodotos was erected in the Athenian Agora between 375-359 B.C. and is today recognized in several Roman copies, offering a tantalizing identification or model for the present figure. For a discussion of the group, see pp. 259-260 in B.S. Ridgeway, Fourth-Century Styles in Greek Sculpture.