Roman figurine of Silenus, c.2nd century AD
Bronze, with lead
Height: 6.3cm
11761 IVP
Copyright The Artist
£ 26,000
Further images
A small figurine of the god Silenus, cast in bronze and filled with lead, a cavity at the top of the head likely indicating where a suspension loop has broken...
A small figurine of the god Silenus, cast in bronze and filled with lead, a cavity at the top of the head likely indicating where a suspension loop has broken away. The deity is nude and squats, with his knees raised high and set apart, exposing his genitals. He is wearing a diadem across his brow enlivened by small bunches of grapes or ivy berries, over which is an animal skin, the legs of which he grasps, the hooves dangling over his rotund belly the short tail upraised at the base at the back. His characterful face, with snub nose, moustaches curling down either side of his mouth and a shovel-like beard, would have been enlivened by inlaid pupils to his eyes, probably originally set in niello. The figurine is on an integral circular base, and most likely acted as a weight. Unrestored, the patina worn in some areas.
Provenance
George Zacos (1911-1983), Istanbul, TürkiyeNicole and Jean-Michel Thierry, France; acquired from the above, August 1956, according to an old collection note which can now be found at the Institut National de l’Histoire de l’Art, Paris, France
Literature
For an example of a weight in the form of a squatting Silenus, much like the present example, compare Heinz Menzel, Die Römischen Bronze bus Deutschland II Trier (Mainz am Rhein, 1966), no.176For an example of a small bronze Silenus, of the same genre but stylistically different, compare Harvard Museum, Object number 2000.180: https://hvrd.art/o/168939
