18 Inches High x 7.5 Inches Wide x 8.5 Inches Deep
This head is from a sculpture of a jovial faun, or more likely, a satyr, in the Uffizi Gallery. The original marble sculpture, an ancient work, was missing the head, arms, and parts of the legs and the tree trunk support included in some casts. It was restored in the 17th century or earlier as a satyr with cymbals, as seen today, but there is speculation as to its true composition. (For further reading, see Habetzeder below.) The sculpture was first recorded in the collection of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, a Medici, in 1665, and it was in its current home in the Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery by 1688. Quickly regarded as one of the greatest extant ancient sculptures, it was replicated by artists and reproduced as casts. Two other copies of the Uffizi sculpture, with variations, were excavated in the 1630s in Rome. A reduction of the sculpture is available as Item #213.
Artist: Unknown
Museum: Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
Time Period: Unknown, 17th century or earlier
Sources:
Cambareri, Marietta. “Giovanni Battista Foggini, Florence 1652-1725: Dancing Faun.” Italian and Spanish Sculpture: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, written by Peggy Fogelman and Peter Fusco with Marietta Cambareri, Getty Publications, 2002, pp. 238-243. Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=GHw1AgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
“Dancing Faun.” Royal Academy of Arts, https://.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/dancing-faun.
“Dancing Faun.” The J. Paul Getty Museum, http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/244983/pietro-cipriani-dancing-faun-italian-1722-1724/?dz=#9cbf754d947efca15754d4fff2bc58359ec7f3d7.
Habetzeder, Julia. “The impact of restoration. The example of the dancing satyr in the Uffizi.” Opuscula: Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome, no. 5, 2012, pp. 133-163. Academia.edu, https://www.academia.edu/2065113/The_impact_of_ restoration._The_example_of_the_dancing_satyr_in_the_Uffizi.