LOT 0076

Large Greek Apulian Red-Figure Skyphos with Maenad

4TH CENTURY B.C.

13 3/8 in. (1.74 kg, 34 cm wide).

With stepped foot and two loop handles to the rim, egg-and-dart border; Side A: female in loosely draped chiton holding a dish in her raised left hand and advancing towards an altar, looking to her rear and with her right arm extended; Side B: nude male in similar pose to the female, with mantle draped over his left elbow, gripping a thyrsus, the head wrapped in a band or taenia; volute scroll beneath each handle.

Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12364-226707.

Cf. Trendall, A.D., ‘Paestan Pottery: a Revision and a Supplement’, in Papers of the British School at Rome, 1952, no.20, pp.1-53, pl.V,b, for similar skyphos but with different iconography (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford).

The thyrsus in the hand of the male figure implies that he is a worshipper of Dionysus, and this impression is strengthened by the casual discarding of his clothing which is draped over his arm. The female may then be interpreted as a Maenad, a member of the group of devotees who accompanied the god and led the celebrations in his worship. A combination of protracted and vigorous dancing combined with wine-drinking led to an ecstatic frenzy in which the god was honoured.