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LOT 0133
Larger Than Life-Size Roman Bronze Satyr's Ear
1ST-3RD CENTURY A.D.
7 1/4 in. (767 grams, 18.5 cm).
Probably from a colossal statue of Silenus or a satyr, detailed and naturalistic rendering of a left ear, conical shape with accurate depiction of the internal hair.
ProvenanceAcquired in Europe before 1995.
Private collection, Europe.
Cf. various statuettes of satyrs with similar ears in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, inventory nos.1972.118.68 (Etruscan, 5th century B.C.), 07.286.90 (1st century A.D.); see a bronze statue of Silenus with a wineskin found in 1754 around the impluvium of the Villa dei Papiri, Herculaneum, now in Naples Archaeological Museum, inventory number 5006.
FootnotesIn the mythology of ancient Greece and in the Graeco-Roman literary world, satyrs were a community of beings who lived mostly in woods, surrounded by nature, and often together with nymphs. In the most ancient period they were imagined by the Greeks like Sileni, in human form, but with the ears, tail and sometimes hooves of horses. Seilenoi were depicted as fat, elderly, white-haired men, with snub noses, balding heads, and the ears and tails of asses. They were sometimes covered in fluffy white hair and occasionally sported a pair of ox horns.
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Roman Wall Plaster Fragment Group
Circa 1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £4
Each amorphous fragment displaying one prepared surface and retaining Roman cement to the reverse. 494 grams total, 58-91 mm
From a North London collection in the 1990s. -
Roman Geometric Floor Mosaic
Circa 1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,450
Fragment or portion of floor mosaic, showing a composition of alternated patterns of different coloured squares in chequerboard pattern, combined in diagonal rows of light yellow, light blue, off-white, pink, red, light violet, again off-white, light grey, light grey, dark grey, off-white, light yellow (repeated two times) light blue and off-white shadows; on the lower part a red line is edging the composition over an off-white band. 82.5 kg, 156 cm wide including frame
Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11822-207409.
The square-decorated mosaics had a strong presence in the Hispanic provinces, with some 1st century A.D. examples in the houses of Ampurias, up to the late imperial examples of the Villa of Palencia (archaeological site of La Tejada) where the main rooms show wall paintings with geometric, vegetal or decorations imitating marbles, and mosaics with simple geometric decorations alternating with elegant decorative motifs such as swastikas, chequered motifs or ropes, and Solomonic symbols. The chequerboard motif was widespread, and it is visible also in the 3rd-4rd century mosaic of the Roman Villa of Brading or in the house found under the Museum of Lincoln, in Britain. -
Roman Lead Weight Collection
1st-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Mostly tabular in form, displaying varying numbers of dimples to one or multiple faces. 181 grams total,13-29 mm
Ex Simmons Gallery, London E11, UK, in the 1990s. From a North London collection.
