Statue of Aphrodite in a Crouching Position, with a Dolphin

The goddess is depicted naked and croaching while Eros, behind her, is lifting a cloth to dry her off. The ancient ritual of the bath is recalled both by the position of her body and her gesture of covering her breast with her arm. The work, a ROman copy of a bronze original by the sculptor Doidalsas, was commissioned in the 3nd century B.C by King Nicomedes of Bithynia in Asia Minor and it is also known from depictions on Roman coins issued in the same area.