Roman, 1st century B.C. – 1st century A.D.

Silver

H: 8 cm (3.1 in)

Serial: 995

These three silver figurines have been used as the feet to support a tripod or a candelabrum; for this reason, they were executed as solid casts. Typical in classical furniture, the feet are shaped as feline paws, but the imagination led the craftsman to enrich the design with a hybrid image, the winged head of Silenus. The bald head of the older companion to the wine-god Dionysus, with two horns and pointed animal ears, crowned with an ivy wreath, is seen with a long beard coming to his chest , and fused with beautifully articulated wings of a bird. The hair strands and the feathers have been marked by deep incised lines. For the coloristic effect, these shining silver feet could have been at-tached to a bronze table as well as a piece of furniture entirely made of silver. There is no doubt that they belonged to the class of luxury objects, which were destined to decorate the in-terior of the residence of a wealthy Roman.

CONDITION

A few scratches; some oxidation and tarnishing.

PROVENANCE

Private collection, acquired on the European art market, 1992.

PUBLISHED and EXHIBITED

FABULOUS MONSTERS, Phoenix Ancient Art 2021/40, New York, 2021, no. 6