Antefix with Satyr Face (c. 525–480 BCE): Art, History and Details

Antefix with Satyr Face (c. 525–480 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This frontal satyr face, easily recognized by its snub nose and equine ears, served numerous purposes. As an antefix, it capped the open end of a roof tile, preventing wind, water, and pests from entering the building below. With its naturalistic mold-made features, enhanced with pigment and perhaps additional stamped and carved details, the antefix would also have provided striking visual ornament, especially when seen in long rows high above.

Object facts

• Title: Antefix with Satyr Face
• Date: c. 525–480 BCE
• Culture: Greek/South Italian, Taranto
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: terracotta
• Dimensions: Overall: 25 cm (9 13/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1926.552

A detail from the museum

Despite the connections between satyrs and Dionysos, not all satyr-head antefixes belonged to Dionysian buildings.

Collection credit

The Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Howard, Rossiter. "Greek Sculptures in Terra-Cotta." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 14, no. 2 (1927): 21-22, with ill. following.
• F. A. W. "The Bequests of Mary Warden Harkness: A Tribute and an Accounting." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 15, no. 2 (1928): 43-50.
• Padgett, J. Michael, William A. P. Childs, and D. S. Tsiaphakē. The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Art Museum, 2003.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.