CIRCA LATE 1ST CENTURY B.C.-EARLY 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN PARCEL GILT SILVER SKYPHOS
CIRCA LATE 1ST CENTURY B.C.-EARLY 1ST CENTURY A.D.
The body decorated with a Nilotic scene, some areas raised in relief, with some background chased, one side centered by a grotesque man teasing a crocodile, the hunched man with a protruding spine and enlarged genitalia, depicted nude but for a conical cap and a mantle belted around his waist, the end fluttering behind, stepping forward with his right foot gingerly resting on the back of the crocodile's head, a short staff or double flute in his right hand, enclosed within a rocky landscape with reeds, trees and an oinochoe to the right, a columned portico to the left; the other side centered by a grotesque man approaching a hippopotamus, the gangly nude figure standing on his left leg, the right leg raised high and bent acutely, lifting an askos in his left hand, and carrying a basket in his lowered right hand, a crane menacing him from behind, the hippopotamus with its head lowered, its mouth open revealing teeth, enclosed within a rocky landscape with trees and reeds, a crude rustic hut to the right; the separately cast handles each with rosettes on the interior where they join the rim, and inverted palmettes below, the turned foot also separately made, with a chased foliate pattern radiating out from the stem, the underside of the foot with a punched inscription
4¼ in. (10.8 cm.) high; 10.52 oz. (327.2 gr.)

Provenance

London Art Market, mid 1990s.
with Ward & Company Works of Art, New York, 2000.

Lot Essay

Both the Greeks, in the period after Alexander the Great, and the Romans, were fascinated by Egypt and created a host of art works decorated with scenes ostensibly based on Egyptian themes but rendered in a purely Classical style. Perhaps the most famous of these is the great Nilotic mosaic of Palestrina of the late 1st century B.C., which is thought to be the work of Alexandrian artists under Roman patronage. The skyphos shares the Nilotic landscape with the Palestrina mosaic, complete with hippopotomi, crocodiles and a rustic hut.

The meaning of the interaction of the grotesque figures with the hippopotamus and crocodile is unclear. It may be that the scenes are simply a humorous view of exotic Egypt. It is also possible they have some symbolic meaning, now lost, or that they are pejorative caricatures of Egyptian pharaohs. A related gilt silver cup has been interpreted as representing the legendary pharaoh Menes, symbolic of good, and Achtoes, symbolic of evil (see no. 18 in Myth and Majesty, Antiquarium, Ltd., New York, 1992, with a reference to P. Vernus, "Ménès, Achtoès, l'hippopotame et le crocodile," in Verhoeven and Graefe, Religion und Philosophie in Alten Ägypten). For other Roman caricatures of Cleopatra VII and the Cult of Isis see Etienne, "Queen, Harlot or Lecherous Goddess? An Egyptological Approach to a Roman Image of Propaganda" in Walker and Ashton, Cleopatra Reassessed.

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