Bucephalus Numismatic
Auction 7 30 Sep - 1 Oct 2022
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PHRYGIA. Amorion. Plautilla, 202-205 AD. AE.
Obv: ΦOVΛΒIΑ ΠΛΑVTIΛΛΑ CЄΒΑCT.
Draped bust of Plautilla, right.
Rev: AMOPIANΩN.
Statue of Aphrodite standing facing, head left, nude but covering breasts and groin with hands, within tetrastyle temple façade with arched central bay; at feet to right, dolphin downwards.
This extremely rare coin has an artistic reverse. This image of Aphrodite is known as Medici Aphrodite. The scene was inspired by the Aphrodite carved by Praxiteles. Rather than using bathing imagery with a water jug at her feet for washing, there is a dolphin denoting the foamy waves from which she was born and has just emerged. This was copied for the Villa Medici in Rome, where the image was known as "Venus Medici." The type also appears on coins, especially in Asia Minor, in the later second and early third centuries.
Condition: Very fine.
Weight: 16.10 g.
Diameter: 32 mm.
Obv: ΦOVΛΒIΑ ΠΛΑVTIΛΛΑ CЄΒΑCT.
Draped bust of Plautilla, right.
Rev: AMOPIANΩN.
Statue of Aphrodite standing facing, head left, nude but covering breasts and groin with hands, within tetrastyle temple façade with arched central bay; at feet to right, dolphin downwards.
This extremely rare coin has an artistic reverse. This image of Aphrodite is known as Medici Aphrodite. The scene was inspired by the Aphrodite carved by Praxiteles. Rather than using bathing imagery with a water jug at her feet for washing, there is a dolphin denoting the foamy waves from which she was born and has just emerged. This was copied for the Villa Medici in Rome, where the image was known as "Venus Medici." The type also appears on coins, especially in Asia Minor, in the later second and early third centuries.
Condition: Very fine.
Weight: 16.10 g.
Diameter: 32 mm.