Bas-relief depicting a battle between Eros and Pan Roman period, ca. 300 AD

Bas-relief depicting a battle between Eros and Pan
Roman period, ca. 300 AD

30 x 25 cm
Marble
The relief is well preserved despite some visible fractures and traces of plaster coating along the edges.

Provenance: Private collection, Paris

This marble bas-relief depicts a dynamic scene in which a winged Eros confronts the satyr Pan in a symbolic battle. Eros is portrayed as a young winged boy in an offensive stance. He leans slightly forward, his right arm raised with a clenched fist, while his left foot is poised to step forward.

Facing him, Pan—a half-man, half-goat creature from Dionysus’ retinue—adopts a defensive posture. His muscular body and tense expression suggest he is ready to counterattack. Between the two figures, an object resembling a rudder may symbolize victory.

The battle between Eros and Pan represents the struggle between restrained love and wild desire. This iconography appears in other artworks, such as a mosaic preserved at the Lugdunum Museum, discovered in Lyon, and another from the Roman Villa del Casale in Sicily, dating to the same period.