Marble female head

This marble head was broken from a statuette of Aphrodite, the body of which is now lost. The sharply angled head suggests it may have belonged to a famous statue type showing the goddess bending down to loosen her sandal. This pose captured a moment in Aphrodite’s preparation for bathing.

Aphrodite rising naked from the sea or bath was a favorite subject in Hellenistic art and into the Roman period, when there was an interest in representing figures in momentary informal – and often erotic – ways.