CIRCA LATE 1ST CENTURY B.C. - EARLY 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE ISIS-FORTUNA
CIRCA LATE 1ST CENTURY B.C. - EARLY 1ST CENTURY A.D.
7 3⁄8 in. (18.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Kunstwerke der Antike, Auktion 56, Münzen & Medaillen AG, Basel, 19 February 1980, lot 156.
with Dr. Leo Mildenberg (1913-2001), Zurich.
Private collection (R.G.), Calodyne, Mauritius, acquired from the above.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2009.

Literature

J. Spier, "Roman Bronzes," in M. Merrony, ed., Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Mougins, 2011, p. 135, fig. 15.

Exhibited

Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, 2011-2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA325).

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

The combination of the corkscrew locks, the drapery with its Isis knot, and the cornucopia (missing here) only came to be associated with depictions of the goddess Isis during the Roman Period. The imagery was first used for portraits of Ptolemaic queens; only late in the dynasty did the royal women come to be associated with the goddess (see S. Ashton, "Identifying the Egyptian-style Ptolemaic queens" in Walker and Higgs, Cleopatra of Egypt, p. 150). The crescentic diadem and the ship's rudder (also missing here) are found on Roman depictions of Fortuna. Such syncretistic images usually have the himation tied in an Isis knot positioned between the breasts. See for example the bronze in the Museo Nazionale, Naples, no. 180 in Rausa, "Tyche/Fortuna" in LIMC.

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