A ROMAN BRONZE APHRODITE Circa 1st - 2nd century A.D. "..there is nothing among the blessed gods or among mortal men that has escaped Aphrodite. Even the heart of Zeus, who delights in thunder, is led astray by her.."  (Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, 34 - 35, as translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914) With her weight on her left leg, she stands with her right arm raised holding a tress of her hair, another tress falling on her left shoulder, the rest tied in a knot on the top of her head, her left arm in front of her holding a now missing object, possibly a mirror, wrapped in a himation which hangs loosely from her waist exposing her torso and highlighting the pert curvature of her buttocks, This style of Aphrodite is part of the tradition of Roman versions of the Hellenistic marble figure, the Aphrodite of Melos, better known as the Venus de Milo, which became a repeated trope for the depiction of Aphrodite throughout the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, Artists in the Roman world often varied the form and material of these figures making them more than just simple copies of the original, in this case both her diminutive size and the material of bronze make her more tactile, thus changing the interaction between the figure and the viewer from one of more distant admiration, as with life size figures, to a more personal encounter, 20cm high, Provenance: Ex Christie's 6 October 2011, lot 196, Ex private collection, London. Estimate: £7,000 - £9,000