A very rare Chelsea 'busto' of Venus, circa 1752-53 The goddess modelled half-length with her head turned to her right, her long hair tied in a bun and falling down between her shoulders, scantily clad in a purple dress secured by a strap over her shoulder, upon a high pedestal base painted with a spray and scattered sprigs of flowers, 10.3cm high Footnotes: Provenance With A J Filkins, June 1974 The Chelsea sale catalogue of 1755 mentions a set of four small 'bustos of heathen gods and goddesses for the desart'. Chelsea also produced similar small busts of the Seasons, see Patricia Ferguson, 'Digby, Tollemache and Hervey: three aristocrats and their ceramics', ECC Trans, Vol.22, pp.30-31 for a discussion, where a similar version of Venus on a baluster-shaped plinth is illustrated in fig.8. The same bust of Venus is also illustrated as part of a set of four Heathen Gods and Goddesses by F Severne Mackenna, Chelsea Porcelain: The Red Anchor Wares (1951), pl.54, fig.108. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing