A ROMAN GRAY MARBLE RELIEF WITH A POLYPHALLUS

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN GRAY MARBLE RELIEF WITH A POLYPHALLUS
Circa 1st Century A.D.
The phallus-bird creature depicted in profile to the right, standing on two bird-legs on a raised groundline, two large wings emerging from the center of its back, the feathers indicated, its body a naturalistically-rendered phallus, with a phallus between its legs and a phallic tail, a second thin wavy tail rising upward, a Greek inscription across the top reading \KFILO GEITWN\k, an apotropaic inscription which can be interpreted as "friendly neighbor"
14½ in. (36.8 cm) high

Provenance

Acquired by the current owner in 1995

Lot Essay

The polyphallus or phallus-bird, always rare, are best known from bronze figures in the form of tintinnabula, primarily found in Pompeii. See p. 139 in Grant, Eros in Pompeii, The Erotic Collection of The Museum of Naples and no. 52, p. 69 in Johns, Sex or Symbol? Erotic Images of Greece and Rome. For stone reliefs of the period carved with phalli and apotropaic inscriptions see p. 109 in Grant, op. cit.

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