Silenus Bust for a Couch

1–125 CE

Italy, Roman

Medium

bronze

Measurements

Diameter: 7.8 cm (3 1/16 in.); Overall: 11 cm (4 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1974.88

You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Location

103 Roman

Did You Know?

This silenus’s beard is made up of exactly ten ringlets of curls.

Description

This bust of Silenus was part of the fulcrum or armrest of an ancient Roman couch. Silenus was the tutor and companion of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. He is shown with a long curly beard, bushy eyebrows, and wearing a garland of ivy vines with berries. His deerskin robe, tied by the animal’s hoof, falls off his shoulder, suggesting drunkenness. The bust would have been placed at the base of the armrest where it met the seat of the couch, while an animal head likely decorated the top. As is the case with many Roman objects, Romans adapted their couch style and decoration from the Greeks.