The satyr, whose half-animal nature is manifested in his pointed ears, horns and the tail on his back, bears a kid to a Dionysian festival.

The sculpture is a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original belonging to the second school of Pergamus (160-150 B.C.). It was discovered in Rome in 1675 during an archeological excavation at a sculptor's studio, which explains its surface's unfinished appearance. It was restored shortly afterwards by Ercole Ferrata (1610-1686).