Oil Lamp in the Shape of Silenus Straddling a Wine-Skin

Description This oil lamp is in the shape of Silenus, the Greco-Roman god of drunkeness and tutor to thewine god Bacchus, sitting on an inflated oxhide that is serving as a large wine skin. He reaches back and holds the ox's tail thus creating a handle for the lamp. The child Bacchus holds up a bunch of grapes to him. This is the sort of humorous interpretation of an ancient myth that was very popular in the circle of classical scholars in the the university city of Padua in the early 1500s. The subject and the execution, although rough, are generally characteristic of Riccio, but the specific attribution of hte piece to the master has not been pursued. See 54.234 for a statuette that is universally accepted as one of Riccio's masterpieces.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
11/01/1958	Treatment	cleaned
1/09/1967	Treatment	cleaned
8/24/1977	Examination	examined for condition
8/24/1977	Treatment	cleaned
4/01/1989	Examination	examined for survey

Exhibitions

• The Mannerists. Fort Wayne Art Museum, Indiana, Fort Wayne; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin. 1963-1965.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters