Roman
Further images
Provenance
With Herbert Cahn, Basel, 1998
Private collection, Zurich, Switzerland, 1998 - 2010
Cahn, Basel, Auction 5, September 2010, lot 342
Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above
Literature
This statuette is a small-scale version after a Greek original showing the goddess of love bending down to adjust her sandal. The type has its origins in Hellenistic Alexandria and Asia Minor of the 3rd century BC. For a very similar Hellenistic bronze example, cf. D. G. Mitten and S.F. Doeringer, Master Bronzes From the Classical World, New York, 1967, p. 134-5, no. 135.
This example however is a little more unusual as the goddess is shown lifting opposite arm and leg, which creates a more balanced composition. For a marble Venus of the same posture in the British Museum, acc. no. 1805,0703.17, cf. A. H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Vol. III, London, 1904, 31-2, no. 1580; Also LIMC, II, 2, Aphrodite p. 46, no. 475.