Greek Rhodian painted terracotta Silenus figure, ex. Faber-Castell
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Greek Rhodian painted terracotta Silenus figure, ex. Faber-Castell
Greek Rhodian painted terracotta Silenus figure, ex. Faber-Castell
Greek Rhodian painted terracotta Silenus figure, ex. Faber-Castell
Greek Rhodian painted terracotta Silenus figure, ex. Faber-Castell
Greek Rhodian painted terracotta Silenus figure, ex. Faber-Castell

Greek Rhodian painted terracotta Silenus figure, ex. Faber-Castell

G88

£445.00

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A hollow moulded terracotta figure of a squatting satyr or Silenus displaying an erect phallus. The front of the figure retains extensive original red and blue pigment decoration.

Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. He was typically depicted older than the satyrs of the Dionysian retinue (thiasos), and is thought to be differentiated from a satyr by having the attributes of a horse rather than a goat (in this case distinguished by the tall ears). Silenus presided over other daimons and was linked to musical creativity, prophetic ecstasy, drunken joy, drunken dances and gestures.

Culture
East Greek, Rhodes, end of 6th Century BC

Size
9.4 x 4.7 cms

Condition
Feet chipped, surface worn as seen in the photographs

Provenance
Ex. The Erotica Collection of Christian von Faber-Castell, Switzerland; acquired late 1970’s. With Charles Ede Ltd, London, 1999. With Jean-David Cahn, Switzerland, 2014 (Cahn Auktionen AG, No. 9, lot 103). Ex. Dr Gerhard Miksche, Huddinge, Sweden, and by family descent since 2014. A photocopy of the 2014 Cahn auction receipt (with illustration) accompanies the figure. Cahn label 103 under the base.

As a member of the aristocratic industrialist Faber-Castell family, Christian was able to collect from a young age and his antiquities were displayed at various times in German and Swiss museums before the collection was dispersed.

A number of similar terracottas are in the British Museum, for example:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1865-0720-40
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1864-1007-138?selectedImageId=1613160145
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1864-1007-141?selectedImageId=1613160150

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