Roman Statuette Depicting Venus

Statuette Representing Venus
Asia Minor, 1st cent. BC - 1st cent. AD

Material: Terracotta  
Height: 25 cm  

Provenance:
Former private collection, Cologne  

Comparable Works:
Figures of Venus: Louvre Myr36  
Venus Genetrix: Louvre Myr28; Myr26bis; Myr27; BR4413  

This statuette depicts the goddess Venus standing frontally in a classic contrapposto, with her right leg slightly bent forward. Her right arm is raised to adjust a fold of her drapery, exposing her left breast. 

It belongs to a corpus of terracotta figurines found in Myrina, dating to the late Hellenistic or early Roman periods, between the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D. These works reflect earlier Greek statuary types, particularly those depicting Aphrodite/Venus. Our piece closely resembles the "Venus Genetrix" type.