LOT 0187

Roman Bronze Statue of Venus Anadyomene

1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

5 1/2 in. (311 grams total, 14 cm including stand).

Venus (Greek Aphrodite), the goddess of love, rising from the sea, standing nude and bearing the weight on her left leg; her head turned to the right with slightly downcast eyes and finely worked facial detailing; the bountiful hair arranged on top of her head with two long ringlets falling on her shoulders and her left hand holding the end of one ringlet; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Swiss private collection, 1970.
Private collection, Zurich, Switzerland.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12684-236369.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

See Reinach, S., Repertoire de la statuarie grecque et romaine, Paris, 1930, p.342, no.9; see also Myres, J.L., ‘Aphrodite Anadyomene’ in The Annual of the British School at Athens, vol.41, Athens; Newberry, J.M., Venus Anadyomene: the Mythological Symbolism from Antiquity to 19th century, Wisconsin, 2011; Wardle, M.E., Naked and unashamed: a study of the Aphrodite Anadyomene in the Greco-Roman World, Duke, 2010.

Like many other nude Venus types, the Anadyomene type was not supposed to conceal the body, but to show her naked and unashamed, arms raised, touching her tresses and exposing the goddess to the viewer. The image of a nude female emerging from the sea with wet tresses was inspired by the stories of the ancient Greek courtesan Phryne swimming nude in the sea during festivals.