Detail View: ADJUNCT MODULE B: ITALIAN ART: Polyphallic Figurine of the God Mercury

Collection: 
ADJUNCT MODULE B: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title: 
Polyphallic Figurine of the God Mercury
Image View: 
Overall view; Mercury carrying a money sack, one of his attributes
Creator: 
unknown (Roman (ancient))
Location: 
repository: Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples, Campania, Italy) 27854
Location Note: 
Piazza Museo 19; Secret Cabinet (Gabbinete or Gabinetto Segreto)
GPS: 
+40.853378+14.250486
Date: 
before 79 CE (creation)
Cultural Context: 
Roman (ancient)
Style Period: 
Imperial (Roman)
Work Type 1: 
figurine
Classification: 
Sculpture and Installations
Material: 
bronze
Technique: 
casting (process)
Subjects: 
mythology (Classical); Hermes (Greek deity); polyphallic; tintinnabulum
Description: 
The Secret Cabinet (Gabbinete) or Secret Room is the name of the Bourbon Monarchy gave the private rooms in which they held their fairly extensive collection of erotic or sexual items, mostly deriving from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Limiting viewership and censorship have always been part of the history of the collection. The phallus when associated with the Greek god Hermes (the Roman Mercury) was thought to offer apotropaic protection. In this example, currently missing its once-decorative bells, multi-phallic Mercury, identified by his wings, hat and money sack, clearly acted as a protective, apotropaic device. (Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)
Collection: 
Adjunct Module B: Italian Art
Identifier: 
7A3-R-NAM-XC-GM-A01
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.