These very fine two antiques and rare 19th century Italian silver statuettes created through the ancient lost wax casting method representing a male and a female centaurs.

These exceptional quality antique Italian silver statuettes finely sculpted and hand chiseled feature incredible details from the hooves to the hair. The silver statues show quality throughout with theirs defined muscle tone and intricate facial expression.
The centaurs are a mythological half-human and half-horse creatures. They have the body of a horse and the torso, head and arms of a man.
This pair of beautiful silver sculptures, even if depict a Classic subject of ancient mythology, are quite unusual due to the female centaur figure.
The male centaur’s figure became very famous after the discovery, made by Mons. Furietti in December 1736, of an outstanding pair of dark-grey marble statue in the ruins of Hadrian's Villa. The statues represents an old and a young centaurs and are generally assumed to be a copy of a late 2nd century BCE bronze Hellenistic original. They are now exposed at Capitoline Museum in Rome.
As regards the female centaur, the only one known in history is Ilinome, Cillaro’s wife. the Roman poet Ovid told the story of this female centaur in his Latin poem The Metamorphoses.
She holds a wand in her hand called Thyrso. It is covered with ivy vines and leaves always topped with a pine cone. The thyrsus is associated with Dionysus and is a symbol of prosperity, fertility, hedonism, and pleasure/enjoyment in general.
Beautiful original antique patina, we can provide professional polish on request.

Weight: 1712 gr. e 1747 gr.
Measures: Width 30cm, depth 10 cm, height 34 cm.