Description
Pair of Minerva and Venus sculptures in gilt bronze
Very nice little pair of antique sculptures in gilded bronze, representing Minerva and Venus.
They both rest on a double square base in granite bent with gilt bronze beads.
Minerva, her head turned to the left, holds her spear in her right hand and in her left a shield with the head of a Caravaggesque medusa encircled with pearls. She wears a so-called « at the roman » helmet surmounted by a crest adorned with a feather caterpillar. His bust is covered with a Lorica squamata.
Venus, her head slightly turned to her right, holds her mirror in her right hand and her left holds her Chlamys. Her knee is unveiled and her head is surmounted by a crown of flowers meeting on her bun from where locks of hair gently descend along her neck and shoulder.
Both are shod in sandals and wear peplos, this long antique garment, cinched by a thin belt at the waist. Their shoulders are covered with a chlamys attached to the right back of her tortoiseshell corselet for Minerva and to the left shoulder, covering the right, for Venus, the edges of which are finely chiseled with fringes.
Work from the beginning of the 19th century in its original gilding.
Dimensions Venus: H 22.5 cm x W 7.5 cm x D 7.5 cm
Dimensions Minerva: H 23 cm x W 7.5 cm x D 7.5 cm