Large figure of Aphrodite / Venus Anadyomene type
Price: on request
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Object number
AR2964
| Object: |
Large figure of Aphrodite / Venus Anadyomene type
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| Material: |
Red clay with mainly preserved dark slip
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| Date: |
About 4th till 1st century B.C. Hellenism |
| Description: |
Figure of a slender young girl draped in a coat, standing on a high base with the weight on her right leg, the left leg slightly bent and put back. The goddess has both arms raised, holding and wringing her tresses.
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| Historical note: |
The figure belongs to the famous Aphrodite or Venus Anadyomene type, showing the birth of the goddess rising up the sea. According to Hesiod's Theogony, the Titan Cronus killed his father Uranus and cast his testicles into the sea. From the white foam which spread around them, Aphrodite was born, rising from the sea in the area of Paphos on Cyprus. Many ancient sources report the popularity of this scene in ancient art, among which was a (now lost) much admired depiction by the painter Apelles of Kos in the 4th century B.C. which was brought to Rome on the order of Augustus and described by the Roman author Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia |
| Size: |
Height 25,1 cm, width at arms 10,9 cm
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| Condition: |
Very good condition for an ancient figure of this size. Professionally restored from several original fragments. Remainings from the original grounding coating are preserved.
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| References: |
For the type see e.g. R. A. Higgins, Greek terracottas (London 1967) plate 60C
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| Provenance: |
Acquired by us in 2017 in a German auction house. Ex bavarian private collection, in which the figure was acquired in the 1970s.
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| Authenticity: |
We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.
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