Sleeping Faun

Founder Cast by Gorham Manufacturing Company American
1887–89, cast 1919
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774
The faun, deity of the fields and herds, is often represented as half-goat and half-man or as a human with pointed ears, small horns, and a goat's tail. In Potter's interpretation, only the faun's ears and a pair of reed pipes indicate that the figure is not simply a pudgy young nude slumbering on a forest floor. As the boy dozes, an inquisitive rabbit nibbles on the leafy garland encircling his disheveled hair. Potter seldom ventured into such fanciful themes; he was highly skilled as a sculptor of animals and is best-known for the pair of lions that flank the Fifth Avenue entrance to the New York Public Library.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Sleeping Faun
  • Artist: Edward Clark Potter (1857–1923)
  • Founder: Cast by Gorham Manufacturing Company (American, Providence, Rhode Island, 1831–present)
  • Date: 1887–89, cast 1919
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Bronze
  • Dimensions: 11 x 38 1/4 x 17 1/2 in. (27.9 x 97.2 x 44.5 cm)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1919
  • Object Number: 19.127
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Edward Clark Potter - Sleeping Faun - American - The Metropolitan Museum of Art