Lot 26
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Athens, Greece, ca. 500 BCE. Attic Black-figured olpe in the manner of the Red-line Painter. Front panel decorated with a bearded Dionysos on the back of a donkey, his head turned backwards, looking at a standing maenad, while another maenad stands in front of his horse, flanked by the two Eileithyiae, the goddesses of childbirth. Meandering vines in the background. Upper rim decorated with a checker pattern, lower zigzag and connected dot patterns. Dionysos is wearing a fancy drapery garment, belted at his waist, wearing a wreath on his head. Painted details in red and white. Size: 4.375" W x 8.5" H (11.1 cm x 21.6 cm)
Donkeys were sacred to Dionysus and he is often portrayed sitting astride an ass. When goddess Hera had thrown him into a state of madness, he wandered about through many countries of the earth. Dionysus was made to travel to an oracle at Dodona to receive instructions as to the next step in his journey, but on his way there he came to a lake, so deep and wide that he was prevented from proceeding any further. One of two asses (donkeys) he met there at the lake was willing to carry the god of wine across the water, and the grateful god placed both animals among the stars. Henceforth donkeys remained sacred to Dionysus.
The ancient women of Bacchus, the maenads, or bacchants are one of the most prolific groups in surviving religious imagery from antiquity. Artists and sculptors throughout the ages have made them their subjects. These wild women who engaged in uninhibited frenzy were considered a mystery even in the ancient world. For the ancients, the maenads represented the dangers of women left unchaperoned by male authority. Yet for many women, the worship of Bacchus allowed them to experience what life could be like as an unfettered maenad.
Provenance: East Coast collection, New York Gallery, New York City, New York, USA, ex Arte Primitivo Gallery, New York, ex Collection of John R. Orr, Toledo, Ohio. Acquired 1980s. To family by inheritance
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#182331
- Condition: Professionally repaired from approximately twelve original pieces. Appears choice.
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| $300 | $999 | $50 |
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| $5,000 | $9,999 | $500 |
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| $100,000 | $199,999 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 + | $20,000 |