3-044-380 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Statuette of a Satyr, 480-460 BC. Kneeling Satyr. Additional Info: A kneeling satyr raises a keras, or drinking horn, to his lips in this solid bronze statuette. The drinking horn was made separately and attached with a pin that runs through it, forming the satyr's thumb and tongue on either end. The complex pose of the figure, with his head thrown back and limbs extending in all directions dates the piece to the early Classical period. While mostly human in appearance, the satyr's bestial nature is revealed by his pointed ears, snub nose, hooves, and his tail, now missing on this statuette. Also characteristically satyr-like is his visibly erect phallus. Part-human, part-animal companions of the wine-god Dionysos, satyrs were known for their lustful and drunken behavior. The keras from which this satyr drinks was used for imbibing unmixed or undiluted wine, an uncivilized act that led quickly to drunkenness. Appropriate to the subject, this small statuette may have decorated a large metal vessel used to mix and serve wine. A lumpy area below his left hoof may be the remains of an attachment pin. Alternatively, the statuette may have been given as a gift to the god at a sanctuary of Dionysos.