Read the visual description
The sculpture depicts a woman standing with one hand on her hip and the other holding a small round object, while a bird or small animal perches on her shoulder. She seems to be leaning on a tall object on the right, which her bent elbow rests on. The woman is dressed in a draped gown that falls elegantly to her feet, with detailed folds in the fabric. Her skin is mostly white, with some patches of brown, and her reddish-brown hair is intricately styled on top of her head. Her outfit, the object she holds, and the creature on her shoulder are all blends of white, reddish-brown, and light brown pigments. The sculpture stands on a flat rectangular base.
National Gallery of Art · Sculpture
Aphrodite with Eros
Tanagra 4th/3rd Century B.C.
- Date
- 4th/3rd century B.C.
- Medium
- terracotta
- Dimensions
- overall: 19.6 × 8.57 × 4.76 cm (7 11/16 × 3 3/8 × 1 7/8 in.)
- Classification
- Sculpture · Antiquities
- Accession number
- 2014.136.368
- Credit line
- Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection, 1926)
- Time span
- before 1300
- Department
- CSD
Subjects and terms
- full figure standing
- figure
- classical
- mythology
- Aphrodite
- Eros
- Boeotian
Provenance
Acquired between about 1890 and 1910 by Raphaël Collin [1850-1916], Paris;[1] purchased c. 1911 by William Andrews Clark [1839-1925], New York; bequest 1926 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art. [1] Details about the formation of the antiquities collection acquired by William Clark are in the Clark collection records, in NGA curatorial files. Collin was a painter, and a student of Greek history and archaeology, who had the advice of Edmond Pottier in assembling the collection. Pottier was a director of the French School of Archaeology in Athens, and curator of the Greek and Roman department at the Louvre in Paris. The works in the collection were mostly made originally for household use, then found their way into tombs in ancient Greece, as belongings of the deceased or as offerings at the time of burial.
NGA object ID 177181. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.