Attic Sculpture: Head of Aphrodite
Inv. No.: 88.016
Provenance: Rome (copy of a Hellenistic original)
Date: c. 2nd century AD
Acquired with the assistance of a generous donation from the Friends of Antiquity, Alumni Association.
This head probably originally belonged to a Medici Venus type of statue of Aphrodite with her arms shielding, or perhaps drawing attention to, her breasts and genitals. The Medici Venus was possibly a 1st century BC Athenian copy of a bronze original deriving in turn from the 4th century BC Cnidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles. Like the head of the Medici Venus, this head is tilted to the right. The hairstyle is also similar: the wavy strands are parted in the centre and gathered into a bun at the back, with loose curls at the top. There is also a ribbon tied around the head. The gaze is abstracted and the lips parted revealing the tip of the tongue or perhaps teeth. The marble is white with fine grey veins and fine crystals. The surface is worn, with repairs to the tip of the nose, the brow and lids of the right eye, a crack across the left cheek and a crack that runs down the centre of the forehead, the left side of the nose, continuing down to the chin. This head may once have been in the collection of Clive of India.
Function:
The original from which this head ultimately derives was a cult statue by Praxiteles, the Cnidian Aphrodite; this copy was probably used as a Roman garden or house ornament.
Manufacture:
Carved from Parian marble.
Bibliography:
Alexander, C., "A Statue of Aphrodite", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, XI, No. 9 (May 1953), 241-251.
Haskell, F. and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique: the Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1981, 325-328 (Venus de’ Medici). , Zürich and München, Artemis Verlag, 1984, II, 1, 53 (Medici Aphrodite type).
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae
Ridgway, B. S., Roman Copies of Greek Sculpture: The Problem of the Originals, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1984.
Smith, R. R. R., Hellenistic Sculpture: a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1991, 9-18, 79-83.
Spivey, N., Understanding Greek Sculpture: Ancient Meanings, Modern Readings, London, Thames and Hudson, 1996, 173-186.
Comparanda:
Alexander, C., "A Statue of Aphrodite", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, XI, No. 9 (May 1953), plates on pp. 246-248.
Comstock, M. B. and C. C. Vermeule, Sculpture in Stone: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1976, No. 55 ("The Bartlett Head").
Haskell, F. and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique: the Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1981, Fig. 173 (Venus de’ Medici). , Zürich and München, Artemis Verlag, 1984, II, 2, Aphrodite 1060 ("Leconfield Aphrodite").
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae