Votive figure of a girl (Aphrodite?)
Bronze, h. 60.96 cm, 510–480 BC
British Museum, London

This figure, excavated in Naples, and possibly made in Capua, is a very interesting example of archaic Italian art. It is also remarkable as a very early instance of bronze-casting in statuary. It has been cast on an iron core, which still remains, but owing to the unequal expansion of the iron the bronze has split on the right side of the figure. The arms have been cast separately and soldered on. The goddess represented cannot be identified with certainty. She makes the gesture of holding a flower in her right hand, standing in a stiff attitude, with feet close together. She wears a long chiton over which is a close-fitting garment, something like a jacket, falling in rounded curves over the hips; it is ornamented on the breast and sleeves with incised floral patterns. Her hair falls in a mass down the back, and she wears the characteristic Etruscan shoes with turned-up toes. The statuette was purchased by the British Museum in 1864.