Head of Pan from the group "Pan and Daphnis"

Provenance

Formerly English private coll., 18th or 19th cent.

Description / Expertise

The face is represented in a dynamic manner with powerfully contracted brows and deep folds running from nose to mouth. The small eyes with their scratched pupils and irises are rendered in a graphic style. His open mouth is framed by a thin, curly beard that leaves the chin free. The pointed animal's ears as well as the now mostly missing goat's horns above his forehead almost disappear in his dense, curly hair.The receeding hair at the corners of the forehead as well as the beardless areas below the ears and at the chin are characteristical for this type of Pan. His head is turned markedly to the left towards the now missing shepherd boy Daphnis whom he embraces under the pretext of teaching him how to play the panpipes.
Roman copy after a Hellenistic original that probably dates from the 2nd cent. BC.