The J. Paul Getty Museum

Statuette of a Young Satyr Playing the Double Aulos

Object Details

Title:

Statuette of a Young Satyr Playing the Double Aulos

Artist/Maker:

Unknown

Culture:

Roman

Place:

Roman Empire (Place Created)

Date:

A.D. 150–200

Medium:

Silver with gilding

Object Number:

96.AM.206

Dimensions:

4.2 cm (1 5/8 in.)

Credit Line:

Gift of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman

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Object Description

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.

Provenance
Provenance
- 1990

Robert Haber (New York, New York), sold to Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, 1990.

1990 - 1996

Barbara Fleischman and Lawrence Fleischman, American, 1925 - 1997 (New York, New York), donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman (October 13, 1994 to April 23, 1995)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu), October 13, 1994 to January 15, 1995
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland), February 14 to April 23, 1995
The Art of Music (September 26, 2015 to May 29, 2016)
  • San Diego Museum of Art (San Diego), September 26, 2015 to February 7, 2016
  • Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), March 9 to May 29, 2016
Bibliography
Bibliography

Galerie Nefer, Zurich. Catalogue 8. 1990, no. 24.

True, Marion, and Kenneth Hamma, eds. A Passion For Antiquities. Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, exh. cat. (Malibu: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1994), p. 328, cat. no. 171.

"Museum Acquisitions Between July 1, 1996, and June 30, 1998." The Report of the J. Paul Getty Trust (1997-98), p. 69.

Grebl, James. "El Poder de la Música en los Mitos y el Arte Clásico." In El Arte de la Música, exh. cat. (Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura, 2016), pp. 121, 263, cat. 11, ill.