A striking 19th century terracotta sculpture of a Satyr (Faun) carrying the young Dionysos (Bacchus) on his shoulders, after the antique. Modelled after a Roman marble copy of a Greek original of the 3rd century BC, from the Farnese Collection, preserved at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples (inv. 6022).

Stamped Chiurazzi Napoli. Circa 1880.

Why We Like Them

What captivates us about this sculpture is the tenderness of the gesture — the infant Bacchus reaches down to pull at the Faun’s hair with the imperious ease of a small god utterly certain of his welcome, while the Faun looks up with an expression caught somewhere between indulgence and mild alarm.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ That the Chiurazzi workshop captured this intimacy so faithfully in terracotta — from a sculpture that had already travelled from a lost Greek bronze through a Roman marble and across two millennia — is quite remarkable.

The Myth

Raised in hiding on Mount Nysa by nymphs and satyrs, the young Dionysus — god of wine, ecstasy and transformation — grew up among wild woodland spirits who fed him honey, taught him the pleasures of nature, and kept him from the wrath of the gods. These earthy, exuberant creatures became his first family. Throughout his mythology, satyrs and fauns remained inseparable from his retinue — part guardian, part companion, part willing accomplice in whatever divine mischief the god of wine saw fit to conjure.

Dimensions

Height: 39.5 cm / 15.5”

Condition 

The sculpture as it appears today is reminiscent of the fragmentary state in which most antique sculptures reached the Renaissance — a reminder that the “complete” figures we admire in museums today owe as much to the imagination of 16th century restorers as to ancient masters.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​