A Marble Group of a Satyr riding a Sea-Goat, Roman Imperial, Early Augustan, late 1st Century B.C.

the grinning satyr riding merrily with his feet resting on the sea-goat's back, his fragmentary hands gripping at the hair on the neck of the beast, the fleece and other details finely carved, the missing horns of the goat carved separately, the recessed oblong base carved for insertion into the base of a large basin.

discovered in Rome circa 1908 on the grounds once belonging to the Villa Spithoever (presumed location of the "Gardens of Sallust")
Jacob Hirsch, Munich, 1911
Lucienne and Antoine Perpitch, 3 rue Paul-Louis Courier, Paris, acquired prior to 1968
French private collection, by descent (Artcurial, Paris, June 23rd, 2009, no. 33, illus.)

Notizie degli Scavi di antichità, Rome, 1909, p. 9, fig. 1 (headless, reversed photograph of proper left side)
Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei. Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologische, 5th series, vol. XVIII, 1909, p. 77
Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, vol. IV, 2nd ed., 1913, p. 77, no. 1 (line drawing of reversed photograph from Notizie degli Scavi)

Goat: Forelegs and muzzle missing and formerly restored (some metal pins still in place), head and neck repaired from several fragments, area of painted plaster restoration encompassing proper right eye, ear, and top of head, other more minor and superficial plaster restoration elsewhere on head, two ancient connected holes on top of head for now missing separately-carved horns, ancient channel of circular section drilled through back of head all way down to where mouth used to be (possibly indicating reuse, or part of the original fountain scheme). Satyr: back of head and neck expertly restored in marble, head appears to belong to figure even though there is no join between them, arms missing, tail fragmentary, large chip on edge of proper right foot, smaller ones on proper left foot, surface of entire figure chipped, abraded, scratched, and weathered as shown, note abraded lower legs as well as superficial crack in area of proper right side knee.
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There are only four other known versions of the present group. Three of them, all headless and highly weathered, are still inserted into a large square base, each addorsed to and radiating from the fluted stand of what must have been a large labrum or basin (Chr. Vorster, "Römische Gruppen des späten Hellenismus im Museo Gregoriano Profano des Vatikan," in G. Zimmer, ed., Neue Forschungen zur hellenistischen Plastik. Kolloquium zu 70. Geburtstag von Georg Daltrop, Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 2003, pp. 114-116, fig. 15; Arachne. Datenbank und kulturelle Archive des Forschungsarchiv für Antike Plastik Köln und des Deutsches Archäologisches Instituts, no. 130563); this monument is currently located in the gardens of the Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Rome (Fig. 1).

On the fourth extant example of the group, which is in the Vatican Museums, the head of the goat tilts sharply forward and only the legs of the satyr are preserved (Chr. Vorster, Museo Gregoriano Profano ex Lateranense. Römische Skulpturen des späten Hellenismus, vol. 2, Wiesbaden, 2004, pp. 69f., no. 32, pl. 45,1-2; Vorster, op. cit., pp. 112ff., figs. 13-14).

The present group and the Vatican example were very likely part of the same kind of highly ornate fountain monument as the one preserved in the gardens of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. In the latter example the large base supporting the basin and the three goat-riding satyrs is roughly hewn and appears to be made of limestone. This suggests that the base was was not meant to be seen and may have been submerged, so that the satyrs would have appeared to emerge from the waters riding on sea-goats.