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.

Acquired 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.

In 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.