A Stone - Mascaron Of Pan - France (paris?) - Circa 1850/1900

A stone mascaron - Pan - France (Paris?) - circa 1850

In architecture, a mascaron or mask is an ornament generally representing a human figure, sometimes frightening, with an apotropaic function: its original function was to ward off evil spirits so that they do not enter the house. They are often affixed to a window or door arch key or to a lintel, or modillion.

Pan is the Greek god of shepherds, protector of flocks and inhabitants of woods and meadows. Pan was regarded as the son of Hermes and a daughter of Dryops, surprised by the god as she tended her father's flocks; some scoliasts name its mother Callisto, Oencis or Thymbris; others call her Penelope, sometimes identifying her with Odysseus's wife.

Pan was born with horns, a beard, a curved nose, a tail and goat's feet, completely hairy, so that his terrified mother fled. His father carried him to Olympus, where he became the favorite of the gods, especially Dionysus; according to others, he was brought up by the nymphs.