Triumph of Silenus

A procession of putti dances across this long relief. Clutching bunches of grapes and oversized diamond rings, the youths wear only ostrich-feather headdresses. At the rear, two putti are harnessed to a cart, guided by a panisk (a child with goat legs and tail). Putti on the cart play music for their companions while a man lies prostrate as he is simultaneously poked with a stick and force-fed grapes. The captive is Silenus, Greek god of wine and drunkenness. The scene is traditionally described as the "triumph" of Silenus, although "misfortune" would be a more appropriate title given the torment to which he is being subjected. The Medici symbols — ostrich feathers, diamond rings, and the falcon decorating the side of the cart — indicate that the father of Lorenzo de' Medici, Piero, may have been the patron. The thin yet heavy relief was likely embedded into an architectural object adorning a Medici home.