Tyche, the concept of chance or fortune, was often connected with cities. Images personifying Tyche appeared in a range of media, including coins, stone reliefs, glass bottles, and stone and copper-alloy sculptures. Here, Tyche sits on a low throne. Wearing a mural crown, chiton, and peplos, she holds a cornucopia in her left hand. She extends her right hand, which held a now missing attribute, possibly a staff. It is difficult to identify which city may be represented by the statuette, though Constantinople has frequently been suggested. Regardless of its identification, the sculpture is representative of the small-scale Tyche images common throughout the late Roman and early Byzantine worlds.

• Provenance

  Said to have been found in Rome; Mme. Edouard Warneck, Paris (sold Hôtel Drouot, June 13-16, 1905); [ Arthur Sambon, Paris (sold Galerie Georges Petit, May 25-28, 1914)]; Robert Rousset(sold 1947); [ Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York ( sold 1947)]

• Timeline of Art History (2000–present)
  Timelines

  Italian Peninsula, 1–500A.D.
• MetPublications
  Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century (1979)

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, Europe in the Middle Ages (1987)