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Figure of Isis-Aphrodite

Unknown2nd century A.D.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York City, United States

Isis-Aphrodite is a form of the great goddess Isis that emphasizes the fertility aspects associated with Aphrodite. She was concerned with marriage and childbirth and, following very ancient pharaonic prototypes, also with rebirth. Elaborate accessories, including an exaggerated calathos (the crown of Egyptian Greco-Roman divinities) emblazoned with a tiny disk and horns of Isis, heighten the effect of her nudity. Figures depicting this goddess are found in both domestic and funerary contexts. Popular already in the 3rd to 2nd centuries B.C., they continued to be made in Roman times. Dating technology places this piece in the Roman period, probably about AD 150, and the long narrow face and rather dry expression do not contradict such a date.

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  • Title: Figure of Isis-Aphrodite
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date Created: 2nd century A.D.
  • Physical Dimensions: w125 x h495 mm
  • Type: Sculpture
  • External Link: MMA
  • Medium: Terracotta painted brown, black, red, and pink on white engobe
  • Provenance Extent: Complete
  • Provenance: Purchased from Galerie Nefer, Zurich, 1991. Published in BMMA Fall 1991 and subsequently, continuously exhibited.;
  • Period: Roman Period
  • Medium Extent: Complete
  • Credit Line Extent: Complete
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1991
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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