Artwork Page for Piping and Dancing Satyr

Details / Information for Piping and Dancing Satyr

Piping and Dancing Satyr

300–100 BCE
Medium
bronze
Measurements
Overall: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.)
Public Domain
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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.
A mottled green and brown bronze sculpture of a muscular, nude Satyr leans back and to our left. His bearded head turns toward our right while a stump marks where his right arm was raised. Fragmented and missing its left arm, the figure stands with a straight left leg and a bent right knee with a raised heel. The aged patina highlights his athletic frame and the coarse texture of his beard.

Piping and Dancing Satyr

300–100 BCE

Greece, Alexandria(?)

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