Sleeping Faun

Edward Clark Potter

1887–89, cast 1919 · Bronze · The American Wing

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.

Artist

Edward Clark Potter

Date

1887–89, cast 1919

Medium

Bronze

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1919