LOT 0188

Roman Bronze 'Thames' Statuette of Venus

2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

5 3/4 in. (249 grams total, 14.5cm including stand).

The goddess modelled nude in contrapposto stance; the right hand extended to hold a patera (absent); the hair dressed in a chignon with diadem and two lateral twisted locks; loops to the ears for attachment of separate earrings; eyes modelled oversize to accept silver appliqués; mounted on a custom-made stand. [No Reserve]

Found by Nigel Mills, Thames, UK.
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.

Mills, N., Roman Artefacts found in Britain, Chelmsford, 1995.

Cf. Boucher, S. & Tassinari, S., Musée de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine a Lyon: Bronzes Antiques I. Inscriptions, Statuaire, Vaisselle, Lyon, 1976, item 65, for type; see also Reinach, S., Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, Paris, 1897, p.359, no.2.

In this type of sculptures of the goddess, the deity appears diademed, entirely naked, her hair curled behind a chignon from which braids fall to her shoulders. In her left hand, missing here, the goddess usually carried a fruit, flanked by a marine figure wrapped around a pole.