Currently not on view
Head of a satyr or centaur,
probably 1st century CE, perhaps after prototypes dated ca. 150 BCE
Roman
y1948-49
The snub nose, unusually shaped ears, wild curly hair, and grinning expression—implying an unbridled exuberance beyond ordinary human restraint—identify this Roman marble head as that of a satyr (half man, half goat) or a centaur (half man, half horse), each known for drunken and amorous habits. The head bears particular resemblance to the head of the so-called Young Centaur by Aristeas and Papias, two sculptors from the ancient city of Aphrodisas in Cyprus.
Information
Title
Head of a satyr or centaur
Dates
probably 1st century CE, perhaps after prototypes dated ca. 150 BCE
Medium
Coarse-grained white marble with micaceous inclusions
Dimensions
24.5 x 18.2 x 18.8 cm (9 5/8 x 7 3/16 x 7 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Carl Otto von Kienbusch Jr., Memorial Collection
Object Number
y1948-49
Place Collected
Europe, Italy, Rome
Period
Type
Materials
Museum purchase through Prof. Morey from Guiseppe Federici in Rome in 1948
- "Recent accessions," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, vol. 7, no. 2 (1948): p. 11., p. 11
- Frances Follin Jones, "The Princeton Art Museum: antiquities received in recent years", Archaeology 7, no. 4 (Dec., 1954): p. 237-243., p. 238
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The Carl Otto von Kienbusch, Jr. Memorial Collection (Princeton: Princeton University Art Museum, 1956)
, no. 52 - F. F. Jones and R. Goldberg, Ancient art in the Art Museum: Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1960)., p. 16; p. 17 (illus.)
- Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway, Hellenistic sculpture, (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990-2002)., Vol. 2: p. 225; note 34; pl. 66.
- B. S. Ridgway, et al., Greek sculpture in the Art Museum, Princeton University: Greek originals, Roman copies and variants, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1994)., no. 6, pp. 24-27, illus.
