Getty Museum

Statuette of a Young Satyr Playing the Double Aulos

Date

A.D. 150–200

Medium

Silver with gilding

Culture

Roman

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

This rustic looking youth strides forward playing a double aulos or flute. The instrument is unusual in that it has one straight pipe and one with a flaring, upward-curving end. The youth is nude except for a gilded panther skin draped across his torso. The panther skin, impish facial features, and stiff, tousled hair characterize the young figure as a satyr, a semi-human follower of Dionysos, the Greek god of wine. Nevertheless, he lacks the expected animal ears of most satyr portrayals, and the place where a tail should be is covered by the panther skin. This confusion of traditional iconography, as well as his round face and bulging eyes, suggest that this statuette was made during the Antonine dynasty in the 100s A.D. This time period also saw the production of many other solid-cast silver statuettes given by the wealthy as offerings to the gods either in a temple treasury or in a household shrine.

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