Bust of Venus, France early 19th century, After the Antique

Gilt bronze, mounted on ebonised wood and serpentine base
23.5 cm. / 9 ¼ ins overall

This gilt bronze bust is based on the head of the ancient Crouching Venus in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence (inv. 1914 n.188), which was first recorded in 1670 in the inventory of the Villa Medici, Rome. In the late eighteenth century it was moved to Florence and displayed in the Uffizi. The Uffizi Venus is believed to be a Roman copy of a lost Greek statue of Aphrodite, attributed by Pliny the Elder to the sculptor Daedalsas. It was widely copied in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most notably by Antoine Coysevox, who was commisioned by Louis XIV to carve a copy for the gardens at Versailles, which is now in the Louvre (1684-86, inv. MR1826).

The present bust, with its unusually thick edges and evidence of holes for fitting, was probably made to surmount a clock or an ornate piece of furniture. The fine finishing of the hair suggests it was probably made by a specialist in ormulu in Paris in the early nineteenth century.