LOT 0178

Roman Bronze Folding Tripod Table with Busts of Bacchus and Panther

2ND CENTURY A.D.

39 3/4 in. (9.9 kg, 101 cm).

With three extendable legs each topped with bust of Bacchus, his long hair collected in a crown of vine leaves and branches, wearing a panther skin exomis; the feet formed as feline paws; the middle part of the frontal leg formed as an S-curve topped with a panther's head with open jaws.

Ex collection of Dr Djafari (1900-1981), Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11801-206499.

See a similar tripod decorated with horses in the Paul Getty Museum, in Mattusch, C.C., Enduring Bronze: Ancient Art, Modern Views, Los Angeles, 2014, pp. 72-73, fig. 52a-b, inv. no. 96.AC.203; three similar tripods decorated with the heads of Bacchus and Attis, have been found in Pannonia and Noricum, see Palagyi, T., Facsady, A., Romains de Hongrie, Lyon, 2002, p.37, and fig.103 (from the chariot grave at Környe), fig.291 (from Zomba); Traxler, S., Lang, F., Schlag, B., Die Rücckehr der Legion, Romisches Erbe in Oberössterreich, Linz, 2018, p.74; for a 6th-7th century A.D. Roman example see Wamser, L., Die Welt von Byzanz - Europas Östliches Erbe, München, 2004, fig.355.

Folding tripod stands were well known in the ancient world, in both Greek and Roman contexts. These folding supports for tables, bracers and cauldrons are known finds from important excavations in the Roman world, like Pompeii. The purpose of such folding stands varied: during the meal they were placed between the triclinary beds, and bowls and application plates were hung to the hooks at the back of the holders, here shaped like the heads of a Bacchus. They were also used for the fire in military encampments, or in the temples of the gods. Others were used as the support frames for bronze bowls, either for washing or for ritual purposes. Many were offered as funerary gifts, like the splendid example in the chariot grave of Környe. Roman folding tripods were also used in religious rituals (here clearly linked to the cult of the god of wine, as shown by the presence of panthers) and sacrifices. Burnt offerings and libations were offered to the gods in cauldrons that would have been attached to the hooks behind the heads on the upper section.