ROMAN BRONZE PRIAPUS FIGURE
Ca. 100-300 AD.
A free-standing bronze statuette of the god Priapus shown with a long beard, standing with erect phallus and a pile of fruit, symbolizing his influence over fertility and abundance. Priapus was the son of Dionysus or Hermes and Aphrodite. He is a rustic minor god of fertility, both of vegetation and of all animals associated with agricultural life. For a similar, but draped figurine see Bonhams, Antiquities Auction, 23 May 2012, Lot 78.
Size: L:48.9mm / W:16mm ; 26.18g
Provenance: Private London collector, acquired on the Austrian Art market; formerly in an old USA collection, formed since the 1970s.
Estimate: GBP 150 - 300