Description:
A terracotta statuette showing the goddess Venus (Greek Aphrodite); she is depicted naked, holding drapery with her left hand, and covering her pudenda with her right hand. On her left hand side an amphora is visible.
The statuette is a representation of Venus Pudica or Pudicitia (modest or chaste Venus), a type that ultimately derives from the Aphrodite of Knidos, a statue created by the renowned sculptor Praxiteles in the 4th century B.C.; this statue is now lost, but several Roman copies of the work still exist.
Venus is depicted immediately before or after taking a bath, which according to some sources was in the sea. Related depictions show Venus Anadyomene, the Roman counterpart of the Greek Aphrodite Anadyomene (the name indicating that she is rising up from the sea at birth), in which the goddess covers her pudenda in a similar way. Many representations of this moment are known, starting with a much admired depiction by the painter Apelles of Kos in the 4th century B.C., and followed by the works of great artists of later centuries like Botticelli, Titian and many others, including Picasso. The painting by Apelles was brought to Rome by the emperor Augustus, but is now lost; however, it was described by the Roman author Pliny the Elder (died 79 A.D.) in his Natural History. A famous mural from the Casa di Venus in Pompeii is believed to be based on the painting by Apelles.
Dating:
Possibly Greece, Late Roman Period, circa 3rd-4th century C.E.
Size:
Height 14.3 cm.
Provenance:
Old French private collection of a Parisian couple, of which the wife passed away in 1962 and her husband in 1969. Since they had no children or heirs, their whole collection was passed on to the family of their closest friends, where it has remained for three generations.
Condition:
Intact, with only some slight earth deposits and minor wear; an old label with an inventory number glued at the back.
SOLD
Stock number:
C2530