Monumental statuary white marble sculpture Italy, 17th - 18th century 130 x 40 cm Depicting a phallus in grotesque form, decorated with animal motifs and supported by a base with feral protomes. A symbol of fertility and vitality, it was already worshipped in ancient Greece as an emblem of the generative forces of nature, over time also assuming an apotropaic value, intended to ward off magical and evil influences. The deliberately caricatured rendering accentuates the link with popular and superstitious culture, which has handed down its use as a ritual and ornamental object.Provenance: Villa Fersen (now Villa Lysis), Capri.Built in 1905 by Count Jacques d'Adelswärd Fersen, the villa was for years a meeting place for Capri's cosmopolitan and transgressive elite, animated by an aesthetic and pagan taste. After the owner's death in 1923, the residence experienced a long period of neglect, only to be recovered and restored in the 1990s.Faults and shortcomings