Statue of Isis

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Statue of Isis

Place of OriginAncient Rome

Dateabout 150 CE

DimensionsH: 45 1/4 in. (114.9 cm).

MediumMarble

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2005.46

Not on View

DescriptionMarble statue of the goddess Isis standing on an integral plinth. She wears her characteristic linen himation (mantle) draped over the shoulders and around a handful of cloth raised between the breasts, resulting in the emblematic Isis knot.

Label TextThis Roman statue of Isis from the 2nd century creates an intriguing dialogue with Karen LaMonte’s work nearby. Having lost its head and arms over the centuries, it draws our focus—like LaMonte’s sculpture—to the dense drapery folds and to the female form beneath. The finely carved creases of the figure’s light-weight outer garment, which is held by a central knot, conveys the dignity and prestige associated with the Egyptian mother goddess Isis, whose worship spread throughout the Mediterranean world beginning around 300 BCE.Published ReferencesChristie's advertisement, Minerva: The International Review of Art & Archaeology, vol. 16, no. 3, May/June 2005, repr. (col.) inside front cover.

Antiquities, sale no. 1531, Christie's, Rockefeller Center, New York, June 8, 2005, lot 169.

Peck, William H., Sandra E. Knudsen and Paula Reich, Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2011, p. 102-103, repr. (col.) p. 103.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Mummies: From Egypt to Toledo, February 3- May 6, 2018.Comparative ReferencesSee also Ermanno A. Arslan, with Francesco Tiradritti, Monica Abbiati Brida, and Alessandra Magni, Iside: il Mito, il Mistero, la Magia, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Palazzo Reale, 22 February - 1 June, 1997 (Milan, Electa 1997).

cf. R. E. Witt, Isis in the Graeco-Roman World, rev. of 1977 edition (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1997).

cf. Norma Goldman, "Isis revealed: cult and costume in Italy," in Donald M. Bailey (ed.), Archaeological Research in Roman Egypt (The Proceedings of the Seventeenth Classical Colloquium of The Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, held on 1-4 December, 1993; Ann Arbor, MI: Journal of Roman Archaeology, Suppl. Series no. 19, 1996) 246-258.

cf. Johannes Eingartner, Isis und ihre Dienerinnen in der Kunst der römischen Kaiserzeit (Mnemosyne: Bibliotheca classica Batava, Suppl. 115; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991).

cf. Tran Tam Tinh, "Isis, " in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), vol. V.1, pp. 761-796,esp. sections 2 and 4; vol. V.2, pls. 501-526.

cf. Marie Christine Budischovsky, La diffusion des cultes isiaques autour de la mer Adriatique, (EPRO 61; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1977).

cf. S. Kelley Heyob, The Cult of Isis among Women in the Graeco-Roman World, (EPRO 51; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975) 37-52.

cf. A. Roullet, The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Imperial Rome, (EPRO 20; Leiden: E. J. Brill 1972) 90-96, figs. 132-157, lists 24 Isis statues from Rome.