“Executed in Rome in 1858, Pandora is generally recognized as Chauncey Bradley Ives' greatest work for its grace and classical purity as well as for its emotional expressiveness. The sculpture on view here is the third of three full-length copies Ives executed from the original clay model of Pandora that he conceived in 1851. Ives kept this third copy in his studio until 1862, when he exhibited it at the International Exhibition in London. Pandora, a figure of Greek mythology, was sent to earth to punish Prometheus for stealing fire from the gods. Stirred by curiosity, she removed the top of a box she was forbidden to open, thereby releasing all the evils previously unknown to the world; only hope remained inside. She is shown here on the verge of opening the box. The classical subject-coupled with a formal program of smooth surfaces, elegant line, and overall restraint-recalls European neoclassical sculpture, while the drapery and sensuous flesh demonstrate a form of naturalism popular in nineteenth-century American art. Pandora, possibly Ive's most famous work, is a masterpiece of American ideal sculpture, which was meant to encourage viewers to meditate upon beautiful form, as well as moral narrative, thereby elevating them to higher realms of aesthetic understanding. Pandora's popularity as a subject was widespread in nineteenth-century European and American art.”