An Italian patinated bronze of the Bacchic Faun or 'Faun in Rosso Antico', after the Antique, probably Rome, first half 19th century

An Italian patinated bronze of the Bacchic Faun or 'Faun in Rosso Antico', after the Antique, probably Rome, first half 19th century, the grinning faun portrayed standing and nude for a draped goat's skin around his shoulders, raising a bunch of grapes with his right hand and holding a curved club in the other, flanked by a tree trunk with pan flute to one side, and with a goat leaning on a wicker basket to the other, on an integral octagonal plinth, 36cm high, 21cm wide

The present model is a reduction of the Faun in Rosso Antico marble which was excavated before 1741 at Hadrian's Villa. The marble group was subsequently given to the Capitoline Museums by Pope Benedict XIV in 1746, where it was met with admiration. The workshop of Giovanni Zoffoli is known to have produced reductions of the Faun, and an example of very similar size and patination by this maker is at Anglesey Abbey.

See Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500 - 1900, Yale, 1981, 39, fig. 111, pp. 213-15
Cf Christie's New York, 13 April 2016, lot 23.

Condition Report:
Usual minor marks, knocks and scuffs overall commensurate with age. The bronze has a variegated green patina, with lighter patches to the extremities and raised sections including the face, and there are some darker flecks overall including surrounding the figure's outline on the base, perhaps the residue of a lacquer. There is some radial movement between the raised arm and the body, where there is a casting seam and a circa 0.5cm circular patch to each side probably the ends of a securing pin (likely used during manufacturing process). There are several tiny inconsistencies most significantly to the left foot where one of the toes has a circa 0.2cm hole. This could be a casting error or possibly a subtle repair.