LOT 0191

Roman Bronze Grotesque Silenus on Dolphin Handle

CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

6 3/4 in. (370 grams total, 17.5 cm including stand).

Formed as a dolphin with hollow-formed curved body attached at the mouth to the base; standing on the dolphin's lower back, a grotesque bearded figure of Silenus with a furry body, and with a rope tied around his waist, his arms spread holding a cymbal in each hand; stub to the rear where the dolphin's tail joined to form a loop; mounted on a custom-made stand. [No Reserve]

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Cf. Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 284 (dolphin); cf. Reinach, S., Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, Paris, 1897, p.59, no.6.

Silenus is here represented as Papposilenus, a representation of Silenus that emphasises his old age, particularly as a stock character in satyr play or comedy. His costuming includes a body stocking tufted with hair (mallōtos chitōn) that seems to have come into use in the mid-5th century B.C.