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A bowl with a large handle and a figure on it.

A bowl decorated in red and black with a figure in draping robes and a beard. Their arms are bent and they seem to be walking or dancing. There are designs of waving vines behind them. On either side of them there are what seem to be two large eyes, though they are only partially visible from this view. The bowl seems to have a long curved handle but due to the angle it is foreshortened and only slightly visible behind the bowl itself.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1969.15
Title
Kyathos (dipper): The Wine God Dionysos
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 510 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Archaic period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/287381

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3400, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Greece in Black and Orange
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta, white ground
Technique
Black-figure
Dimensions
with handle: H. 14.4 x W. 15 cm (5 11/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
Dia. 11 cm (4 5/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Munzen und Medaillen, Basel, 1968, sold; to Private Collector, Boston, 1969, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1969.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Anonymous Gift
Accession Year
1969
Object Number
1969.15
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
The central figure on this dipper is the wine god Dionysos, who stands between two large eyes. He walks to the right but turns his head to the left, his arms clutching the ivy vines which spread out throughout the background. His wreath, beard, shawl, and tunic are decorated with added red paint, making him appear more vibrant. The eyes flanking him are large eyes filled in with black with red pupils and irises. On either side of the handle next to the eyes are roosters whose feathers, combs, and wattles are brought out with red paint. In the background behind the roosters are lotus buds. The entire dipper mimics the anatomy of a face where the triangular Dionysos mimics a nose and the fan-like roosters the ears.
Commentary
The depiction of eyes on ceramic drinking vessels was most common for vases created in the later 6th century B.C.E. Their exact function is unknown, but they frequently occur with Dionysian imagery and have been thought perhaps to represent the wide, drunken eyes of the god. Another plausible theory is that they are apotropaic, meaning that they are intended to ward off evils like the evil eye.
The white-ground background of this vessel is more common for funerary vessels, particularly lekythoi (oil flasks).

Publication History

  • David Gordon Mitten and Suzannah F. Doeringer, "Two New Greek Black-Figure Vases", Fogg Art Museum Newsletter, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, April 1969), vol. VI, no. 4
  • Caroline Houser, Dionysos and His Circle: Ancient Through Modern, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1979), no. 2.
  • David Gordon Mitten and Amy Brauer, Dialogue with Antiquity, The Curatorial Achievement of George M. A. Hanfmann, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1982), p. 11, no. 14.
  • Delphine Tonglet, Le Kyathos Attique de Madame Teithurnai: échanges artisanaux et interactions culturelles entre Grecs et Étrusques en Méditerranée archaïque, CReA-Patrimoine (Bruxelles, 2018), vol. 1: HAN.16, pp. 135-141; vol. 2: HAN.16, pp. 38, 114, 137, 145, 179; pl. 8.1, 16.2; tbl. 3

Exhibition History

  • Dionysos and His Circle: Ancient through Modern, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/10/1979 - 02/10/1980
  • Dialogue with Antiquity: The Curatorial Achievement of George M.A. Hanfmann, Fogg Art Museum, 05/07/1982 - 06/26/1982
  • 32Q: 3400 Greek, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu