Details

LOT 0118

Roman Bronze Statuette of Isis

1ST-3RD CENTURY A.D.

5 1/4 in. (280 grams total, 13.3 cm including stand).

The goddess standing, wearing an Ionic chiton and himation secured by a characteristic knot tied between her breasts, the folds cascading to the floor; her left hand modelled open and held above her breast; her centre-parted wavy locks fastened with a band, pulled back in a chignon at the nape of her neck and surmounted by a hair-comb; mounted on a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Literature

Cf. Boucher, S., Tassinari, S., Bronze Antiques du Musée de la civilisation Gallo-Romaine a Lyon, 1. Inscriptions, Statuaire, Vaisselle, Lyon, 1976, nos.20-21,38 (Fortuna and Isis-Fortuna); also Descamps-Lequime, S, 'Acquisitions' in La Revue des musées de France. Revue du Louvre, 2, 2016, p.91, fig. 109, no.109, Louvre inventory Br 6045.

Footnotes

Statuettes of Fortuna, the goddess of chance, were evidently popular during the Roman Imperial times judging by the large number that have been found, and with the advent of the cult of Isis within the Roman Empire, the two divinities were identified as a single goddess.