CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C./A.D.

The young satyr is depicted with pointed ears, unruly curly hair, short rounded horns over the forehead and typical mischievous smile. Possible remains of wattles on both sides of the jaw. His head is turned to his right and he gazes slightly down. For a close example of satyr head see no. y1948-49 in B. S. Ridgway, Greek Sculpture in the Art Museum, Princeton University. Greek Originals, Roman Copies and Variants, Princeton, 1994, p. 82, no. 26. Both the present head and the Princeton example, believed to be after Hellenistic prototypes of the mid-2nd century B.C., are close to the statue of the so-called Young Centaur signed by Aristeas and Papias, in bigio morato, which was found at Tivoli in Hadrian’s Villa and is now in the collection of the Musei Capitolini (inv. No. inv. MC0656).

The tip of the tongue sticking out is likely to be a modern addition, possibly reworked from the remains of a now-missing flute. The theme of a young satyr playing the flute was popular throughout the Roman era as attested by the number of extant copies. For a related full figure in the Louvre, see no. 216 in E. Simon, “Silenoi,” LIMC, vol. VIII.

Christoph Bernoulli (1897-1981) was a Swiss art dealer and interior designer from the Bernoulli family of scholars. He was one of the founders of the Antikenmuseum Basel.