Details
A ROMAN RED-WARE POTTERY JUG
CIRCA 3RD CENTURY A.D.
With a barrel-shaped body, the sloping shoulders embellished with raised tongues, a cylindrical neck, a flaring rim and a wide strap handle, the body ornamented with two relief scenes meant to be read as one story, both framed to the left by a large grape vine arching over and to the right above the figures; one scene with King Lycurgus, maddened by Bacchus, wielding a double-axe, the muscular figure nude but for a mantle, a small child to his left and right, presumably his sons, Lyssa, the personification of raging madness, clad in a chiton, her right breast exposed, thrusting a flaming torch in her left hand at the king, a snake coiled around her arm; the other scene with a youthful Bacchus to the right, fleeing from the angered king, his body frontal, depicted nude but for a mantle draped over his shoulders, a staff in his left hand, looking to his right at a fleeing woman with a small child in her arms, perhaps Lycurgus' wife, her drapery falling to her knees and revealing her body, a leaping panther to her right
10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm.) high
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