Silenus Bust for a Couch
Italy, Roman · 1–125 CE · Cleveland Museum of Art
Guide
Adjust the guideNew to it · Medium
Looking for this guide.
From the museum
This bust of Silenus was part of the fulcrum or armrest of an ancient Roman couch. Silenus was the tutor and companion of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. He is shown with a long curly beard, bushy eyebrows, and wearing a garland of ivy vines with berries. His deerskin robe, tied by the animal’s hoof, falls off his shoulder, suggesting drunkenness. The bust would have been placed at the base of the armrest where it met the seat of the couch, while an animal head likely decorated the top. As is the case with many Roman objects, Romans adapted their couch style and decoration from the Greeks. This silenus’s beard is made up of exactly ten ringlets of curls.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0
What did you think?
Save this work’s image and museum information on this device to read without a connection.
Ask about this work
Ask in your own words. The answer comes from what the museum has written about the work, and says so when that does not hold it.
Details
- Maker
- Italy, Roman
- Date
- 1–125 CE
- Medium
- bronze
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 7.8 cm (3 1/16 in.); Overall: 11 cm (4 5/16 in.)
- Place of origin
- Italy
- Held by
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · On view · 103 Roman
- Credit line
- Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0