Ancient Roman statuary at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York -- PAN (The Bothmer Purchase Fund, 1992)

Speranza

Marble statue of Pan
Period: Imperial
Date: 1st century A.D.
Culture: Roman
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: H. 67.6 cm
Classification: Stone Sculpture
Credit Line: The Bothmer Purchase Fund, 1992
Accession Number: 1992.11.71
This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 162

In Roma, villa gardens and peristyles (courtyards) were filled with images of Bacco and wood land creatures from his entourage.

Pan, the goat god, appears here in his usual form as a shaggy-haired, bearded man with the legs, horns, and tail of a goat.

His back is bent under the weight of a vessel or wine skin once held on his left shoulder.

This Pan was probably designed as part of a fountain complex with water gushing from the now-missing container.
Provenance:
19th and early 20th century, European private collection and market.

Late 1970s, London market.

Until 1982, with Robin Symes.

1982, purchased by B. Johnson through Sotheby’s New York.

1982-1992, collection of B. Johnson, Princeton, New Jersey.

Acquired in December 1992, purchased through Sotheby's, New York.
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References:

Sotheby's,
Sale Catalogue, Fine Antiquities, New York, 20 May 1982, lot 142.

Sotheby's,
Sale Catalogue, New York, December 17, 1992, lot 72.

Jeromack, P. 1992.
"The Rising Market for Trouble-Free Antiquities."
The Art Newspaper 25: section 2, illus.

Milleker, E. 1993.
"Recent Acquisitions: A Selection 1992-1993."
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 51(2): p. 15.

Picon, C. and J. Mertens. 1993.
"Acquisitions in Focus. Greek and Roman Antiquities at the Metropolitan Museum."
Apollo 138 (no. 377): 40-44, fig. 6.

Marquardt, N. 1995.
Pan in der Hellenistischen und Kaiserzeitlichen Plastik.
Bonn: Habelt, pp. 266-7, pl. 26.4.

Milleker, Elizabeth J., ed. 2000.
The Year One:
Art of the Ancient World East and West. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 32, pp. 51, 206.

Picon, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 434, pp. 373, 490.