The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Piping and Dancing Satyr

Piping and Dancing Satyr

300–100 BCE
(?)
bronze
Overall: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1945.366
Location: 102C Greek

Did You Know?

The special strap around the satyr’s mouth to help him play the pipes is called a phorbeia.

Description

With its long limbs and unbalanced pose, this bronze statuette captures a male figure in the middle of a dance. His pointed ears, snub nose, and berry crown mark him as a satyr, a part-man, part-horse follower of Dionysos, the Greek god of wine and revelry. He probably once held auloi (musical pipes), to judge from the placement and shape of his right hand, plus the strap around his mouth; his left arm is now missing. Composed of multiple cast pieces joined together, the dynamic pose of this statuette shows the Hellenistic interest in movement and the body.
  • Dr. Joseph Eddé, Alexandria
  • Comstock, Helen. "A Group of Greek Bronze Statuettes." The International Studio LXXXIV. New York. 1926. pp. 34-35, reproduced pp. 37
    Wunderlich, Silvia A. “A Bronze Satyr.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 33, no. 4 (1946): 35–36.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 35 archive.org
    Carter, Martha L. Classical Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 7-8; Plate 13 archive.org
    Segall, Berta. Tradition und Neuschopfung in der Fruhalexandrinischen Kleinkunst. Berlin: Winckelmannsprogramm der Archaeologischen Gesellschaft. 1966. pp. 45-46, reproduced pp. 49
    Hoffmann, Herbert. Collecting Greek Antiquities. First ed. New York: Clarkson N. Potter. 1971. pp. 78, fig. 69
    Hadzi, Martha Leeb. Transformations in Hellenistic Art, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, Massachusetts, February 3-March 18, 1983. [South Hadley, Mass.]: Trustees of Mount Holyoke College, 1983. pp. 10-11, cat. no. 1
    Settis, Salvatore. I Greci: Storia, Cultura, Arte, Società. Vol 2.Una storia greca, Part III. Transformazioni. Torino:Einaudi. 1996. pp.564-565. Fig. 15.
  • Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987).
    Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
    The Lost Wax Process. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 14, 1965-March 27, 1966).
    Art and Humanism in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 23-February 25, 1962).
    The Dance in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 20-August 17, 1955).
  • {{cite web|title=Piping and Dancing Satyr|url=false|author=|year=300–100 BCE|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.366