Striding Pan

1530–1539
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 536
The satyr stands upright and majestically strides forward. His powerfully muscled torso closely resembles Riccio’s heroic nudes, like the beggar in the Saint Martin relief in this gallery. He is most probably Pan, the satyr deity who reigns over the material world. Designed to stand on a scholar’s desk, he carried the attributes of a flaming conch-shell lamp and an ink-filled vase, perhaps symbolizing Pan’s dominion over the elements. Such pairings of figure and function are rare in Riccio’s work, but the extraordinary balance of the topheavy figure on just two small hooves is typical of Riccio’s technical mastery.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Striding Pan
  • Artist: Andrea Briosco, called Riccio (Italian, Trent 1470–1532 Padua)
  • Date: 1530–1539
  • Culture: Italian, Padua
  • Medium: Bronze
  • Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 14 1/8 × 6 1/4 × 4 3/4 in. (35.9 × 15.9 × 12.1 cm)
    Base (confirmed): 7 in. × 6 3/4 in. × 7 in. (17.8 × 17.1 × 17.8 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture-Bronze
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Gifts of Irwin Untermyer, Ogden Mills and George Blumenthal, Bequest of Julia H. Manges and Frederick C. Hewitt Fund, by exchange; and Rogers and Pfeiffer Funds, 1982
  • Object Number: 1982.45
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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