Boar on short rectangular plinth mounted by
Silenus.
Plinth: 10,5 x 7cm
H.: 16cm
Fully grown large male boar, reproduced with
great accuracy in all anatomical details: hoofs,
penis and testicles, turned upwards stout tail,
pointed erect ears, well developed tusks
protruding from the lower jaw, small deep-set
eyes, upturned snout with nostrils clearly
indicated. The animal sports a short mane from
the thick and powerful nape all along its
massively built hide; coarse bristle-like hair
spring on either side of the compact face.
Diminutive element of support at the underbelly
of the boar.
Silenus is represented in complete nakedness,
only the fold of a sinuous himation covering his
genitals. His body is juvenile, almost ephebic in
appearance, in great contrast to the mature
features of his face. The animalistic character of
Silenus is expressed by a certain disproportion
between the rather large head resting on the
slender well-proportioned body, almost directly
without the interference of a neck.
The Silenus precisely modeled head carries an
oval face with a completely bald forehead and
symmetrical bushy eyebrows over small round
eyes; squat, bulbous nose; full lower lip, the
upper lip being entirely buried under a pair of
luxuriant mustaches; neat but dense beard which
also permits the viewing of his front teeth. Both
ears are sizeable and protruding, with short
turned upwards horns emerging right beside
each one.
The statuette is entirely hollow and there are
three evident and neatly bored perforations, two
on the boar (underbelly and hind side) and one
on the back of Silenus.
All details are delicately rendered in this
supremely executed pair, as one’s attention is
firstly drawn to the playful composition of the
Silenus on top of the boar, and then to the
exquisitely balanced posture of his body, the
torso in a powerful, almost violent movement,
nimble limbs firmly secured on the boar and
spreading towards all four directions, with the
grace of a skillful dancer. The impression of a
lively movement is underscored by the Silenus
raised arms, which effortlessly but vigorously
expand and conquer the surrounding space; both
hands were possibly clasping clusters of grapes,
the right one extending forward was most
probably holding tight a cluster which has now
been lost.
The joyous and vivacious style of this
composition, with Silenus appearing in a rather
mischievous yet indirect glorification of wine and
the god Dionysus, suggests a sense of humor
very common during the Hellenistic period.
In Greek mythology, Silenus was tutor to the wine
god Dionysus and one of his companions. He is
typically represented as older than the satyrs of
the Dionysian retinue.
The original Silenus was initially associated to a
rustic man of the forests, having the ears of a
horse and sometimes also the tail and legs of a
horse. Around the end of the 6th century BC, the
name Silenus was applied to Dionysus’ foster
father, which thus aided the gradual absorption
of Satyrs and Sileni into the Dionysiac cult.
Silenus, although bibulous like the Satyrs in the
Satyr plays, also appeared in Orphic hymns to be
the young god's tutor and a dispenser of
domestic wisdom. Sileni are mostly portrayed on
ceramics as drunken members of the Dionysian
thiasos, notorious consumers of copious
quantities of wine, habitually bald and
overweight, with thick lips, squat noses and
human legs, supported by satyrs or carried on by
a donkey. Later still, the plural "sileni" went out
of use and the only references were to one
individual named Silenus, the teacher and faithful
companion of the wine-god Dionysus, described
as the oldest, wisest and most jovial of the
followers of Dionysus.
As mentioned above and on most occasions,
Silenus is depicted riding a donkey along the
boisterous Dionysian train; besides a brief
mention in the 1921 Perdrizet book on
terracottas from the Fouquet Collection relative
to the statuette of a Silenus on a boar and a 3rd
century terracotta figurine from Canosa,
originally constructed as a rattle, with Silenus
siting atop a boar and holding a wreath which
hardly approaches the artistic technique and
aesthetic quality of this one, there exist no other
known representations of Silenus riding a wild
boar.
There is a 3rd century terracotta statuette of an
eros riding a boar and a 1st century figurine from
Egypt of a naked woman riding side-saddle a
boar, but boars are not normally the type of
animal one would associate with transport. Wild
boars were widespread throughout ancient
Greece. Their ferociousness, destructiveness and
strength made them a worthy opponent for the
hunters and heroes of Greek mythology. Boars
were often associated with certain gods or as
sent by them to punish the human race.
Hellenistic coroplasts developed further the
humorous concept of humans posing or
interacting with animals or just animals as
artistic subjects, as a subject offering an escape
from the merely human sphere.
This is an extremely rare terracotta statuette with
a composition which has, to our knowledge and
this day, no known stylistic nor iconographic
parallels.
- (LR.026)
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