CIRCA 520-500 B.C.

Details

A GREEK BLACK-FIGURED BELLY AMPHORA
CIRCA 520-500 B.C.
One side with bearded Dionysos standing between two dancing nude satyrs, the god draped in a mantle, facing left and holding a rhyton, vines in the field; the other side with "The Return of Hephaestos," the god riding a mule to the right, holding a branch in his right hand, the randy mule flanked by two nude satyrs; with rays above the foot
8¾ in. (22.2 cm.) high

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 5-6 May 1993, lot 945.

Lot Essay

Hephaestos, the son of Zeus and Hera, was born with a club foot and was summarily thrown off Mount Olympos by his mother. In revenge, Hephaestos made Hera a beautiful chair, and when his heartless mother sat upon it she became entrapped. When her son refused to come to free her, Dionysos succeeded in bringing Hephaestos back to Olympos by seducing him with wine, placing him on a mule and leading him home along with reveling satyrs.

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