Harpocrates 18th Neoclassical Marble Sculpture

Rare neoclassical sculpture in white marble representing Harpocrates, Rome, second half of the 18th century.

Harpocrates is a child god in Greek mythology, an adaptation of the Egyptian child divinity Horus.
Represented naked like Eros, putting his index finger to his mouth in a childish gesture with which the god commanded the initiates to remain silent about the deep mysteries that had been revealed to them.

The Signum Harpocratum was frequently used from the 16th to the 18th century to mean that it is better to remain silent than to divulge forbidden knowledge.

In the field of statuary, the subject of Harpocrates rarely appears.
One of the few known statues is in a room of the Palais du Luxembourg, the work of Louis-Philippe Mouchy dating from 1789, perhaps to encourage senators to remain silent about their deliberations.

This refined sculpture has some old re-gluing on the ankles, wrists and left shoulder and an old restoration on the finger which is placed in the mouth.

Measures
H cm 60
W cm 20
Circumference cm 60

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