CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A Roman marble Dionysiac volute krater section
Circa 2nd Century A.D.
With a head of a Silen, one of the revelling followers of Dionysos, delicately carved in high relief with luxuriant hair and beard flowing in twisted curls, wearing a fillet across his forehead decorated with ivy leaves and flowers, the tail-end ribbons on his shoulders, against a background with grape bunch and acanthus leaves in shallow relief. Emerging from the head is a single volute handle, the discus ornamented on either side by an eight-petalled rosette, the rim of the vase with beaded border and egg-and-dart, mounted
11¼ in. (28.5 cm.) high

Lot Essay

Large ornamental marble vases were popular in the time of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) when there was a vogue for such urns in the gardens of Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli and other grand villas near Rome. Dionysiac subjects were also favoured for the decorative art market during the 1st-2nd Centuries A.D. with inspiration often drawn from earlier Greek art showing Dionysos, the god of wine, and his drunken entourage.

Cf. M. B. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, Sculpture in Stone, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1976, pp. 196-7, nos. 312-3 for marble vase fragments.

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