Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Bell Krater with Dionysiac Scenes
(Ancient Greece )
The wine-god Dionysus appears often on vases of this shape (called a bell krater), which held wine for drinking parties. He is usually shown as a bearded and majestic god. Here, Dionysus holds a thyrsus (a pole often twined with ivy and grapevines and topped with a pine cone) in one hand and a kantharos (a high-handled drinking cup) in the other. He turns his head to gaze at a maenad who follows, while a satyr playing the double flutes leads the procession. The maenad carries an oinochoe (a wine jug) and a lighted torch, indicating that the group's journey takes place at night.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [cat. no. 170]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Geographies
Greece, Athens (Place of Origin)
Measurements
11 1/2 x 13 3/8 x 12 1/8 in. (29.2 x 34 x 30.8 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
48.74