LOT 0081

Etruscan Terracotta Satyr Antefix

4TH CENTURY B.C.

11 3/4 in. (6.77 kg total, 30 cm including stand).

D-shaped in profile with high-relief mask of a satyr within a looped frame; hanks of curling hair to the brow and temples with berries to the fillet, lentoid eyes, broad nose, curling moustache and beard; ledge below and arched ridge to the reverse; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Acquired from Faustus Ancient Art Ltd, London, 1990.
Private American collection.
with Christie’s, London, 27 October 2009, no 9.

Accompanied by copies of the relevant Christie's catalogue pages.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12062-217441.

Cf. Torelli, M., Gli Etruschi, Monza, 2000, no.291, for a similar votive fictile head; Brøns, C., Skriver Hedegaard, S. and Sargent, M.L., ‘Painted Faces: Investigations of Polychromy on Etruscan Antefixes in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek’ in Etruscan Studies, 2016, 19 (1), pp.23-67, fig.17, for similar; cf. similar item with pigment in the British Museum under accession no.1893,0628.1.

The antefix belongs to the typical decorative scheme of alternating maenad and satyr head antefixes that were mainly produced in Cerveteri. Heads were often placed in temples and displayed identifying features such as wavy hair and large, almond-shaped lidded eyes, and were lavishly painted. These typologies of antefixes generally look quite similar and appear to have identical colour schemes with dark red skin, and with darker shade of red applied to the hair below the ears and on top of the head and inside the ears.