Statue of Crouching Aphrodite

This statue portrays Aphrodite bathing a pose that reveals her secret beauty, more human than divine. It is a Roman copy of the Crouching Aphrodite made by the Bithynian sculptor Doidalsas. here the pose of the goddess appears rather stiff compared to the original bronze of the 3rd century BC. The goddess' right knee should have been lowered so that it just touches the base, as in an Aphrodite in the Vatican Museum Collection, the sculpture most similar to this one. The base on which the figure was sitting was probably in the form of a hydria, the water container used by the goddess in her ritual bath. First owned by the Jandolo family, this Aphrodite was a later illegally exported and added to a prvate collection in Monaco. It was reclaimed and brought back to Italy in 1964, then put on display in the National Roman Museum. The sculpture dates to the first half of the 2nd century AD.

这件雕塑刻画了正在沐浴的阿佛洛狄忒（Aphrodite），其姿态展露了她隐秘的美感，更具人性而非神性。该作品是比提尼亚雕塑家多达尔萨斯（Doidalsas）所作《蹲伏的阿佛洛狄忒》（Crouching Aphrodite）的罗马复制品。相较于公元前3世纪的青铜原作，这件复制品中女神的姿态略显僵硬。正如梵蒂冈博物馆收藏的与该作品最为相近的阿佛洛狄忒雕塑那般，这件作品中女神的右膝本应放低至刚好触碰基座。该雕像原本落座的基座大概率为水罐（hydria）形制——这是女神仪式沐浴时所用的盛水容器。这件阿佛洛狄忒雕塑最初为扬多洛（Jandolo）家族所有，之后遭非法走私出境，被纳入摩纳哥的一处私人收藏。该雕塑于1964年被追回并运回意大利，随后于罗马国家博物馆展出。这件雕塑的年代可追溯至公元2世纪上半叶。