A GROUP DEPICTING THE SACRIFICE OF HYMEN TO PAN

Description:

Closter Veilsdorf, ca. 1778
H. 27,7 cm
Model by Johann Friedrich Franz Kotta, marbled stepped base, without mark. Restored.
Jan Ahlers Collection
According to Kotta's working accounts, the group can be dated to 1778 (see Peters 1991, pp.51/52 and fig.1). Hymenaios, presumably the son of Aphrodite, was regarded by the Greeks as the founder and protector of marriages. In the guise of a priest, he introduces the betrothed (Hymen) to the god of fertility Pan, who is depicted as a herm.