Lekythos with Dionysos and Dancing Satyrs

Artist Unidentified artist

CultureGreek, Attic

Datec. 1860 - c. 1970

Mediumblack-figured terracotta

Dimensions2 15/16 x 7 5/8 in. (7.5 x 19.4 cm)

Classificationsceramics

Credit LineGift of Mrs. William Sloane in memory of her husband William M. Sloane III

Object number78.26.1

DescriptionTall lekythos with short neck, thin lip, small foot. Neck, lip, handle, and foot black. Shoulder is decorated with a palmette ornament; body contains a panel set off by a narrow black line. In the panel, Dionysos is seated to right on a folding stool with lion paws where he is flanked by two dancing satyrs. Dionysos is bearded, wearing shoulder-length hair and a band—or mitra—around the crown of his head. His himation is wrapped around the left shoulder and falls in loose zig-zag folds from his outstretched left arm. Incised lines render drapery folds in three sections: crossing the chest, hanging from the left hand, and fanning out from the knee; incisions also form three spirals on the stool. In his left hand he holds a kantharos, the handles facing outward; his right arm is held back, bent at the elbow. The satyr at right dances to the right but looks back toward the center; the satyr at left moves toward Dionysos. The satyrs are characterized with bestial features: bulbous noses and lips, pointed ears, large, muscular thighs, and long, flowing tails. They are painted with three divisions in the abdomen, two curves for the hip muscle, and a long curve with a hook for the knee; each has a well-drawn clavicle hook. All figures are drawn in a controlled, elegant manner with good proportions. It has been suggested that this vase is a forgery.18 Certain aspects of the vase find parallels in ancient models. The lekythos shape is similar to one that emerges circa 530 BCE and later with a rather bottom-heavy, barrel-shaped body. Differences, however, are the short neck, the shape of the foot, and the squat proportions. In ornament, the palmette scroll is similar to period vases, but glazing of the neck, typically reserved, and framing of the shoulder ornament and figural scene in a panel, are inconsistent.

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