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Isis-Aphrodite
Isis-Aphrodite

Isis-Aphrodite

Artist Unknown
Date1st–2nd century
MediumCopper alloy
Dimensions14 x 4 3/8 x 3 1/2 in. (35.6 x 11.1 x 8.9 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LinePurchased with funds from AHEPA Marathon Chapter 2 Foundation, Peter A. Pappas in memory of his father, Tom Pappas, and Peter B. Pappas in memory of his father, Bill Pappas
Object number2009.4
On View
On view
ProvenanceProvenience unknown. M. Péretié, Tortose, Syria, 1892 [1]. Louis de Clercq (1882–1901), Paris, by 1896 [2]; by descent to grand-nephew, Comte Henri de Boisgelin (1901–1967), Paris [3]; sold to Nicolas Koutolakis (1910–1996), Geneva, 1950 [4]; by descent to son, Emmanuel Koutolakis, Paris and Geneva [5]; Kevork Aharonian, by 2008 [6]; [Charles Ede, Ltd., London, September 2008]; sold to NCMA, 2009.

[1] Conder’s article on this collection does not mention the NCMA Isis-Aphrodite specifically. The author lists “Egyptian bronzes” and a “collection of Venuses,” two categories into which this statuette can be classified. See Claude R. Conder, “The Collection of M. Peretie,” Biblical Studies (1881): 214–18.
[2] Per dealer. The statuette appears in de Ridder’s 1905 Collection de Clercq Catalogue Tome III: Les Bronzes as cat. 107 and in Reinach’s 1913 Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, vol. 4, which lists the statue as in the de Clercq collection, citing de Ridder.
[3] Per Kevork Aharonian; see email dated September 17, 2025. (Other de Clercq bronzes share this provenance information.)
[4] Per Kevork Aharonian; see email dated September 19, 2025.
[5] Per Kevork Aharonian; see email dated September 19, 2025.
[6] Per dealer; see email from Charis Tyndall dated September 16, 2025; confirmed by private collector Kevork Aharonian; see emails dated September 19, 2025, and October 8, 2025.
Published ReferencesA. de Ridder, Collection de Clercq Catalogue, Vol. III, Les Bronzes (Paris: 1905), no. 107, illus. pl. XXII.

Salomon Reinach, “Aphrodite Nue,” Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, vol. 4, Paris 1913, rpt Rome 1969, 213 no. 2.

Mary Ellen Soles, entry for Aphrodite-Isis, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 70, illus. (color) 71.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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Isis and Horus
Unknown
664–525 BCE
Decorative Couch Attachment with a Silenos
Unknown
between circa 50 BCE and 100 CE
Minerva
Unknown
1st–2nd century
Mirror
Unknown
circa 300 BCE with 19th century engraving
Biconical Situla
Unknown
circa 750–700 BCE
Torso of Aphrodite (Medici Type)
Unknown
circa 1st century BCE–2nd century CE
Statue of Aphrodite Anadyomene (Cyrene Type)
Unknown
late 1st century BCE–2nd century CE
Carinated Bowl
Unknown
305–30 BCE
FRONT 3/4 VIEW
Unknown
305–30 BCE