A Most Rare Porcelain Group of Apollo and Marsyas

A most rare porcelain group of Apollo and Marsyas. Apollo flays the satyr Marsyas for having bested him in a musical contest. 1757–65. Height about 25 cm. The satyr is bound to a tree with gilded cords, while the cruel god Apollo sits on a gilded plinth, draped in a striped cloak.

The porcelain composition was made by the Capodimonte manufactory and is displayed in the National Museum and Gallery of Capodimonte. Several identical figurines are known: in the Capitoline Museums in Rome and in the Pirotta collection in Milan; another, from the collection of Luigi Ongaro, was sold for roughly 2 million roubles by a well-known auction house, which has lately taken to trading in crude forgeries