Inv. Scu 657

It is one of the most famous statues of the Musei Capitolini. It depicts a faun, entirely nude with the exception of a nebris, or panther skin customarily worn by these mythological creatures. The skin is knotted at the statue’s right shoulder. The faun raises his right arm and in his hand he holds a cluster of grapes, symbols of the harvest Bacchus, and wine. In his left hand is a pedum or shepherd’s crook, another common piece of iconography common to representations of satyrs. At the creature’s feet we can see more objects typical of the Dionysian world.
The Faun leans on his right leg; the idea of movement is transmitted through the slight rotation of the body and the head. The face is dominated by the high cheekbones and the half-opened mouth, revealing a row of teeth. The empty eye sockets were probably filled with metal or precious stones.

The figure is made of an ancient red marble from Laconia, in the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece.

This statue was found in 1736 at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli. The work is a Hadrianic replica (117-138 A.D) of a Greek original from the late Hellenistic Period.