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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1971.30
Title
Aphrodite Holding Mirror and Apple
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
Date
1st century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Syria
Find Spot: Middle East, Syria
Period
Roman Imperial period, Early
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304074

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
19.8 x 8.5 x 6 cm (7 13/16 x 3 3/8 x 2 3/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 80.64; Sn, 10.89; Pb, 7.69; Zn, 0.517; Fe, 0.08; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.07; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, zinc, iron, nickel, silver, antimony
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is a mottled green with dark brown and tan areas; it also has cuprite accretions. Some rusty reddish accretions are present on the mottled green base. The base and the statuette are both in good structural condition. The surface is somewhat deformed by the corrosion products.

The figure was cast in one piece. The base was cast separately and is attached to the figure by means of a modern threaded brass pin and nut that is inserted into the right foot. The figure was finely modeled in the wax stage, and certain details, like the fingers and mirror handle, would have been modeled directly in the wax. The pupils are defined by a small hole, and the eyes do not appear to have been silvered. There are no identifiable tool marks on the surface of the figure. X-radiographs show that its torso and upper thighs are hollow. Small round holes on the surface are traces of the very fine core pins used to stabilize the core.

The base is hollow and has a somewhat uneven inner surface that still preserves the remains of burial accretions and possibly gray core material. The bottom rim is crudely finished. The top surface has been repaired at the center with some form of cast-on metal repair, which is covered with corrosion and burial products. The hole through which the figure is attached to the base is modern and was drilled through the metal. It is not clear at what point the figure and base were joined. The crude finish and flaky accretions on the rim of the base, as well as the lack of deep-seated corrosion, throw the antiquity of the base into question.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
L. de Clercq (Paris), by 1868. [Mathias Komor Fine Arts (New York)], sold; to the Fogg Museum, 1971.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, David M. Robinson Fund
Accession Year
1971
Object Number
1971.30
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
Aphrodite holds a mirror in her right hand and a spherical object, probably an apple, in her left. Aphrodite is nude except for a flowered diadem around her head; small holes in the center of the three rosettes may indicate that there were once inlays of another material in them. Her wavy hair, parted in the center, is pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, and there are also rolls of hair on the sides of her head. Her head is turned down and to the right, looking into the mirror, which is circular and has a long handle with a molded finial. Her face is naturalistically modeled: the eyes are indicated by circular punches, and the lobes of the ears appear under the rolls of hair on the sides of her head. Her arms are held away from the body but are bent at the elbows and raised. The fingers of both hands are very carefully modeled and separated, with the nails also rendered. Her body, rendered naturalistically with soft, round limbs, forms a strong S-curve. Her right hip juts out sharply, with her right leg locked and her left leg bent at the knee, foot pulled back, with only the toes in contact with the top of the base. Her thighs are pressed together and are joined in the metal down to the knees. The toes on both feet are clearly rendered but not separated. The statuette is modeled completely in the round.

The statuette was not originally paired with this base, and the bolt connecting them is modern. It has a simple bell-shape with sharply scooped sides, and it is hollow on the underside. Some simple moldings are rendered on the top and bottom. Brown corrosion on the top of the base may indicate where an ancient statuette may have originally attached to this base, if the base itself is ancient (1).

This statuette, which is identified as the goddess of love and beauty based on her nudity and accoutrements, represents the goddess at her toilet, as indicated by the mirror (2). It could be considered a variant of the type known as Aphrodite Pselioumene, after a sculpture by Praxiteles, but in this case, the goddess holds a mirror and apple instead of a necklace (3).

NOTES:

1. For a discussion of the antiquity of the base, see the Technical Observations.

2. Compare the marble Aphrodite from Arles in the Louvre, Paris, inv. no. MA 439, holding an apple in one hand and looking down into a mirror (disc missing) in the other; see Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae Aphrodite no. 526. For Aphrodite at her toilette, see A. Delivorrias, “Aphrodite. 7: Aphrodite bei der Toilette,” in LIMC 2.1: 59-61, nos. 482-97, esp. 494-96.

3. See M.-O. Jentel, “Aphrodite (in peripheria orientali),” in LIMC 2.1: 154-66, esp. 166. The Harvard statuette is grouped into the “eastern periphery” due to its stated findspot in the publication of the de Clercq collection as Amrit, Syria (ancient Marathos) on the Mediterranean coast (abandoned in the second century BCE); see A. de Ridder, Catalogue de la collection de Clercq 3: Les bronzes (Paris, 1905) 82, no. 115. Other similar statuettes of Aphrodite with a mirror and apple in the de Clercq collection, current locations unknown and not published with pictures, were also said to have been acquired at the same time and location; ibid., 82-83, nos. 116 and 118. Dozens of Aphrodite statuettes of different types in the de Clercq collection were also said to have been from Amrit or neighboring Tartus (ancient Antarados).


Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • Andre de Ridder, Catalogue de la collection de Clercq, Vol. III: Les bronzes, Ernst Leroux, Paris (Paris, France, 1905), p. 82, no. 115, pl. 25.
  • Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, Editions Ernst Leroux (Paris, 1908 - 1930), Vol. 4, p. 213, no. 5.
  • David Gordon Mitten and Amy Brauer, Dialogue with Antiquity, The Curatorial Achievement of George M. A. Hanfmann, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1982), p. 15, no. 55.
  • Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), Artemis (Zürich, Switzerland, 1999), Vol. 2, Aphrodite (in peripheria orientali) no. 113.
  • Ada Cohen, "'Mistress' Bronzes from the Classical World", Teaching with Objects: The Curatorial Legacy of David Gordon Mitten, ed. Amy Brauer, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2010), pp. 76-91, Fig. 5
  • Adrian Stähli, "Roman Bronze Statuettes: Copies of Greek Sculpture?", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 132-45, pp. 134 and 136, fig. 6.1.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), pp. 133-134, 136, fig. 6.1
  • The Legend of the Lares: Collected Essays, brochure, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (South Hadley, 2017), Back cover, pp. 6, 16

Exhibition History

  • Dialogue with Antiquity: The Curatorial Achievement of George M.A. Hanfmann, Fogg Art Museum, 05/07/1982 - 06/26/1982
  • Roman Gallery Installation (long-term), Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/16/1999 - 01/20/2008
  • Re-View: S422 Ancient & Byzantine Art & Numismatics, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/12/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/23/2019 - 05/13/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/28/2023 - 05/07/2023; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/20/2024 - 05/05/2024
  • The Legend of the Lares, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, 01/24/2017 - 05/28/2017

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Roman Domestic Art

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu