A Roman life-size marble bust of Aphrodite

Footnotes

Provenance:
Private American collection.
Antiquities and Islamic, Sotheby's, New York, 13 June 1996, lot 55 (front cover illus).
Lloyd and Jeanne Raport Collection, Washington DC and Florida, acquired at the above sale.

This beautiful marble sculpture of Aphrodite is preserved to a considerable extent above the navel, while the broken arms and missing nose do not detract from the delicate, sensual calm and refinement of this exceptional artistic work, which appears to be the surviving element of a statue.

The goddess of love and beauty is carved in the tradition of the famed Aphrodite of Knidos, full, sensual lips, wavy hair parted at the centre, crowned by a stephane, flowing freely over her left shoulder, and a gathering of braids, plaited above the nape, fall centrally below. Her coiffure is of the more unusual type, that is, with a stephane and shoulder length braids, a rear bun being more common, as is a fillet, a top knot, or with no adornment. The rear of the highly polished marble appears to preserve the remnants of a robe, which indicates that the present sculpture may be Aphrodite Pudica ('modest'), drawing the mantle with her left hand to conceal the breasts, the right hand to cover the pubic area, as in the Knidian tradition.

The present sculpture has the artistic refinement of a late Hellenistic representation, but the pupils are incised, suggesting that the marble dates to the Hadrianic period (A.D. 117–138), or a little later in the 2nd Century, and therefore appears to be a Roman copy of a Hellenistic sculpture. It is, of course, possible that the piece is originally Hellenistic, perhaps 1st Century B.C., and the eyes were then cut in this way in the 2nd Century A.D., though it should be stressed, that the best parallels appear to date to the 2nd Century A.D..

Its aesthetic refinement is achieved by a combination of mastery and the use of fine-grained marble to craft this sculpture. This makes it likely that the goddess once adorned a private house or public building.

A parallel to our sculpture appears to be housed in Switzerland, perhaps in the Musee d'art et d'Histoire, Geneva. It features on the website of the Sciences-Arts CH but appears to be Roman. Similar to the Aphrodite here examined, with a stephane and flowing shoulder length locks, is a bust from the Schloß Sanssouci, Potsdam in Germany. This piece is poorly documented, visually, chronologically, and otherwise, but appears to be Roman rather than Hellenistic (perhaps 2nd Century A.D.) (Arachne ID: 1084967).

Since, as mentioned above, the present sculpture is part of a statue, due consideration should be given to the statue of Venus Felix in the Museo Pio-Clementino, Musei Vaticani, Rome, which is a close parallel to the present sculpture as it would have originally appeared, being a Venus Pudica, although accompanied by Eros (Cupid) on this occasion. This is also of the Knidian type, and the goddess wears a stephane, has shoulder length locks, and is naked save for the robe that covers her pubic area (circa. A.D. 170, inv. 936). (Not currently featured on the website of the Vatican due to technical reasons).

Excerpts from a report by Dr Mark Merrony FSA, Ancient Art Consultant.