Magnificent Terracotta Statuette of Isis-Aphrodite

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Roman period, 1st-2nd century A.D.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 34.1 cm high

Price: 18 000 Euro

Ref: 1504

Provenance: French collection de Boisgelin prior to 1980. Thence in another French collection. Thence with Gordian Weber in Cologne, Germany. There sold on 17 April 2015 to a German collection. Accompanied by the original certificate.

Condition: Except for some minor wear on the rim of the kalathos intact and of excellent quality.

Description: Wonderful terracotta statuette of Isis-Aphrodite with large parts of its colors still preserved. Since the Ptolemaic period the syncretized goddess unifies the major Egyptian goddess Isis with the fertility- and beauty myths of the Greek Aphrodite. She stands for marriage and birth, and following the Pharaonic model also rebirth. The goddess stands without clothes with her arms on the sides. The arms and legs are bejeweled with rings. She wears a long decorative band between her breasts, around her neck a necklace. The face with fine features, the eyes framed with black eyelines. The goddess's hair, which is also black, falls down to her shoulders in three long corkscrew curls on both sides, while shorter curls cover her ears. Isis-Aphrodite wears her typical opulent headdress, a sweeping kalathos, the crown of Egyptian-Greek-Roman deities. The sun disk with cow horns stands out in the centre, encircled by a wreath of leaves and fruits. Mounted on an old wood base. See for the type from the Roman period the statuette in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the Accession Number 1991.76.