New Orleans (Shapiro No. 15)
Attic Black-Figure Skyphos
Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art
CHC Group
Ca. 500 B.C.
Height: 14.7 cm.
Diameter: 22.5 cm. Side A: Dionysos between
satyrs and maenads. Side B: The like.
The skyphos is a drinking vessel, and the ample proportions of this
example would have contained a rather generous serving of wine. The Dionysiac
subject matter is in keeping with the vase's function.
On both sides, Dionysos occupies the center of a nearly perfectly
symmetrical composition. He stands in profile to the right, holding up a large
rhyton in his left hand. The god wears a striped mantle and an ivy wreath in his
hair. On either side of him stands a nude satyr, each facing the god, with one
hand raised in greeting. Moving outward, next come two maenads also looking
toward the center. They wear belted
chitons,
and on two of the four, incised lines suggest an animal hide tied over the
chiton. The whole group is framed by a pair of
crouching sphinxes facing outward. A large palmette occupies the space between
handles and sphinxes.
Bibliography
ABV, 620, 88;
Cesnola 1885-1903, ii pl. 148, 1099;
Cypriote and
Classical Antiquities, Duplicates of the Cesnola and other
Collections, Sale Catalogue, Anderson Galleries, New York,
30-31 March, 1928, i, 107, 395.
