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Lot Essay
One wine-cooler is cast and chased with the scene of the wine-god Dionysus leading a procession of bacchante and Eros who in turn guides the star-crowned Ariadne in a quadriga to Zeus. Dionysus had recused Ariande from the island of Naxos where she had been abandoned by Theseus, whom she had helped guide through the Labyrith to kill the the Minotaur. The other wine-cooler is cast and chased with the scene of the Goddess of Fertility, Demeter, in her serpent drawn chariot in a corn field during her nine day search for her daughter Persephone, who had been abducted by Hades. The scene also depicts her attendants with flaming torches who accompanied her for nine days and nights lighting her way. Also present is a philospher and female attendants who offer Demeter flower wreaths, fruit and wheat. Other attendants mourn the loss of her daughter. The scene is divided by the reclining figure of the river god Hercyna.
The scene of Dionysis is similarly depicted on the Lumley Cup, by Paul Storr, 1837, now in the Victoria band Albert Museum. Two later but matching wine-coolers are in the Jerome and Rita Gans Collection, on loan to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia (illustrated in J. R. Bliss, Catalogue, p. 188-190, no. 66). It is probable that the design for the scultural frieze on the wine-coolers is based on studies of Roman funerary scarcophagi, perhaps by the sculptor John Flaxman (1755-1826).
The scene of Dionysis is similarly depicted on the Lumley Cup, by Paul Storr, 1837, now in the Victoria band Albert Museum. Two later but matching wine-coolers are in the Jerome and Rita Gans Collection, on loan to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia (illustrated in J. R. Bliss, Catalogue, p. 188-190, no. 66). It is probable that the design for the scultural frieze on the wine-coolers is based on studies of Roman funerary scarcophagi, perhaps by the sculptor John Flaxman (1755-1826).