A Muscular Contorted Powerfully Portrayed Satyr

The beared figure with long flowing locks of hair and long beard, gazing downwards, the torso twisted with one arm raised, the other tightly by the side
Marble
Italy
1st - 2nd Century AD

Size: 22cm high - 8¾ ins high / 38.5cm high - 15¼ ins high (with marble base)

Provenance:
Ex Private English collection

Satyrs were the followers and servants of the god Bacchus, the Greek god Dionysos. They are the spirits of the wild mountains and valleys, and are portrayed in ancient mythology as bestial in their desires and behaviour. Consequently they were given the bodies of horses or goats with human heads having horse-like ears or horns. Dionysos was a popular deity, and like Bacchus, was the potent god of wine, vegetation and ecstasy. His early wildness and his worship as the great remover of inhibitions was gradually tamed by the development of seasonable festivals, processions and sacred drama. As the god of fertile nature he is depicted on wine cups holding a vine branch while a horse tailed satyr pipes to him on a double flute.