Half man and half animal, satyrs were part of the entourage of Dionysus, the god of wine. They spent their time participating in revels, drinking, and chasing nymphs. This satyr's head is carved from red marble (rosso antico), quarried in the ancient area of Tainaron in the Peloponnesus, the peninsula south of mainland Greece. Because rosso antico is the color of red wine, it was often used for statues of Dionysus and his followers, both man and animal (such as satyrs, fauns, and goats).

Colored marbles, not widely used in Greece until the Hellenistic period, began to appear in Rome in the 2nd century BCE. In fact, it was with the conquest of Greece, Asia Minor, and especially Egypt that the Romans developed a special taste for colored stones, to which they assigned specific meanings.

At the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is this battered but still-charming head of a satyr. He dates from around the 1st century BC (?) and is sculpted from red marble.

I recreated him with over 40+ photos taken from as many angles as possible, which later were used in Agisoft Photoscan. The final model turned out wonderful, except for a small strip of missing covereage on the rear and top of his head!

The satyr is about eye level and displayed against a wall so I had to contort and twist to catch most of the photos, but I wasn't able to hold the camera in a steady way overhead without blurring any of the shots. I had no access to the rear of his head, but had been confident that I'd captured all of it.

To fix the holes, I imported the satyr into Meshmixer and filled the holes then worked the smooth out the jagged artifacts. The filled spots are still visible, but they don't jump out as before.

The last thing I did was add a strut and plinth under the satyr so he wouldn't just lay around after being printed. The display isn't my best work but its also the first one I've created.

For more information on this fascinating sculpture, check out the link: http://collections.artsmia.org/art/81221/head-of-satyr-roman

This object is part of "Scan The World". Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open source, community effort, if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help.

Scanned : Photogrammetry (Processed using Agisoft PhotoScan)