With fingers gently curled, well delineated nails and missing the small finger. This female hand might well be from a slightly over life sized statue of Venus/Aphrodite or other female goddess who might have held an object in the palm of her left hand. While Venus often holds the apple of desire in her right hand and the mirror in her left it is possible that here we see an inversion of the normal convention. Five deep cuts on the thumb suggest the attempts at dismembering the hand before melting for scrap, the fate of most antique bronze sculptures. 20 cm. height 2515 grams.PROVENANCE A German private collection, acquired on the European art market in the 1980s.