HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.

Details

A GREEK TERRACOTTA APHRODITE
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.
Depicting the Birth of Aphrodite, the goddess emerging from an open scallop shell, depicted nude, seated with her legs tucked beneath, her long wavy hair falling onto her shoulders, looking at her reflection in a mirror held in her right hand, on a high cylindrical plinth, some polychromy and white slip preserved throughout; together with a Greek terracotta Aphrodite, circa 4th century B.C., the nude goddess standing on an integral rectangular plinth, her raised right hand holding her mantle, a dolphin below to her right, her lowered left hand on a column, preserving some pink and red pigment throughout
7¼ in. (18.4 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

Aphrodite in the shell: with Marcel Platt, Paris, 1963.
Both: Albert G. Hess, New York, acquired 1960s-1970s; thence by descent.

Brought to you by

Molly Morse Limmer

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Lot Essay

According to Hesiod, Aphrodite was born when Kronos threw the severed genitals of his father Uranus into the ocean. As the sea began to churn about them, the goddess arose from the aphros, or sea foam, hence her name, Aphrodite. For the type see nos. 1013-1017 in Delivorrias, et al., "Aphrodite," LIMC.
The standing Aphrodite not illustrated.

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