Greece, Boeotia / 500–475 BCE
Dancing Satyr Group
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Dancing Satyr Group as sculpture (Greece, Boeotia · 500–475 BCE).
Satyrs, or lustful, drunken woodland gods, are the biggest partiers in ancient Greek mythology.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this sculpture as painted terracotta.
The museum's collection notes: Part man and part beast, satyrs were mythical woodland creatures. In art, they were depicted with the ears and tail of a goat or horse, sometimes with hooves, and in a high state of sexual arousal. Satyrs often accompanied Dionysus, the god of wine, in his drinking bouts and other escapades. These three probably once decorated the rim of a large punch-bowl-shaped vessel for serving wine.
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The Cleveland Museum of ArtDancing Satyr GroupOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.