Bronze Pantheistic Deity on a Couch in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, October 2009

Pantheistic divinity on couch
Roman Provincial, Imperial Period, about A.D. 150–250

Dimensions: Height x width x length: 10.2 x 8.2 x 13.7 cm (4 x 3 1/4 x 5 3/8 in.)

Medium or Technique: Bronze

Classification: Sculpture

Catalogue Raisonné: Greek, Etruscan, & Roman Bronzes (MFA), no. 118; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 120 (additional published references).

Accession Number: 65.100

Wearing Phrygian cap, chiton, and ample himation, the female reclines on a bed with turned legs and a heavy pillow and nurses a child. She is surrounded by a frog, a double flute(?), a castanet (?), a thunderbolt, a caduceus, a cantharus, a fish, seven small cups, a snake, a lizard, a turtle, and several other puzzling objects.

The woman appears to be a mother-goddess in Asiatic costume (Phrygian cap). She is surrounded by the attributes of Dionysos (wine cup), Zeus (thunderbolt) and Hermes (kerykeion). The seven cups may symbolize the days of the week.

Probably from Alexandria.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/pantheistic-divinity-on-co...