Tyche of Antioch
Artist/Culture
Roman
Date2nd Century CE
Mediumbronze, eyes overlaid with gold
Dimensions17.2 cm (6 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineStoddard Acquisition Fund
Terms
Object number1999.7
DescriptionIn both pose and drapery the Worcester statuette is very close to the Louvre example (Kondoleon 2000, cat. no. 6) and together with the Orontes from the Louvre (Kondoleon 2000, cat. no. 7), they suggest the replica series based on the popular Hellenistic model of the Tyche of Eutychides (Pau. 6.2.6). It is clear from markings on the base that the Orontes, now lost, was part of the original Worcester piece. In fact, it is the only known example in the series with its original base and traces where the Orontes River was attached and thus provides evidence for the practice of joining separately worked pieces depicting the goddess and the river god. The Tyche's gold eyes also set her apart from the other bronze copies (about 29 reproductions in bronze are documented). Although now broken, her right hand would have held a sheaf of wheat. The fluid treatment of the parallel and criss-crossed folds of drapery, especially along the goddess's back, makes the Worcester version especially fine. The outcropping of rock on which she sits is attached to its original base, articulated by convex moldings. The Antiochene version was the model for many other city Tyches and seems to have been a Hellenistic invention that offered a local city god (Tyche) for the new cities founded in the Hellenistic East. The Tyche type is conflated with many different goddesses and attributes depending on the locale of its production. For example, in Rome she is fused with the Roman fertility goddess Fortuna and deemed to control not only individuals but also cities and events. At Dura she is conflated with the Syrian goddess Atargatis, a symbol of beliefs of both the city's Seleucid founders and the local Semitic cults. (Kondoleon, 2000)
ProvenancePossenbacher family of Vienna originally purchased by the father of present owner some fifty years ago. Purchased from the Merrin Gallery, NY
On View
On view
