Head of Pan

This is an ivory relief made in ca. 1780-1820. The relief represents the head of Pan. It is one of three pieces that are set onto a later velvet backing in a nineteenth-century wood frame. They all may have formed part of a larger group, now lost. Pan is a Greek mythological figure. The god of sheperds and flocks, the fields and rustic music, he is usually depicted as half man, half animal, with two horns on his forehead and his feet with cloven hooves, alongside a flute. He often appears together with Dionysos, the god of wine and in Renaissance allegory stands for Lust. The Roman equivalent is Faunus. Pan stands for carnal lust as well as universial nature.