Goddess

This partially nude woman wears a necklace of round beads and long earrings. She holds a cloth loosely wrapped around her thighs that falls to her feet. Her hair is elaborately styled in a row of tight “snail shell” curls around her forehead, a wig-like cap of waves on her skull, and spiraling curls of two different lengths on her neck and shoulders. Elements of her hairstyle, drapery, stance, jewelry, even the size of her eyes and ears, and the way the bronze is cast, point to different cultures in the ancient world, from Egypt to Asia. The first publication of the statuette, in 1899, said that it came from Bactria and suggested it was a copy of a Greek work that was made in India.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Hoffmann Collection Sale, Paris, 1899, no. 572 [as from Bactria]. Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.