Speranza
Marble calyx-krater with reliefs of maidens and dancing
maenads
Period: Imperial
Date: 1st century
A.D.
Culture: Roman
Medium: Marble, Pentelic
Dimensions: H. 80.7 cm
Classification: Stone Sculpture
Credit
Line: Rogers Fund, 1923
Accession Number: 1923.184
The
peristyle courtyards and gardens of the villas belonging to wealthy Romans were
filled with fountains, sculpture, and monumental ornaments such as this vase.
Many of these decorative works were eclectic combinations of shapes and
motifs drawn from the long, rich tradition of Greek art that had been
produced some five hundred years earlier in the sixth and fifth centuries B. C.
The six female figures that surround this vase are copies and adaptations taken
from famous classical reliefs. On one side, two modestly wrapped maidens
approach a girl playing a double flute, while on the other side, three maenads,
followers of Dionysos, dance in abandon to the music of wooden clappers. Gnarled
trees above the handles evoke an outdoor setting.
References
Richter,
Gisela M.A. 1924.
"A Neo-Attic Marble Vase."
Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art 19(1): pp. 1, 10-13.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987.
Greece
and Rome. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 80, p.
110.
Milleker, Elizabeth J., ed. 2000. The Year One: Art of the Ancient
World East and West. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, nos. 33-34, pp.
52-53, 206.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment