Roman, A Roman bronze figure of Venus, circa 1st century AD

The goddess is depicted nude, bending forwards, her left arm raised to balance her raised right leg, her right arm leaning against an urn covered with drapery.

Provenance

With Herbert Cahn, Basel, 1998

Swiss private collection

Literature

This statuette is a small-scale version after a Greek original showing the goddess 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.