On view
Head vase,
ca. 270–320 CE
This sculpted vessel depicts the exaggerated face of a follower of Dionysos, the god of wine and revelry. A crown of grapes encircles his head, while his eyes are wide open as he lifts his eyebrows, creating wrinkles on his forehead that produce an almost comical appearance. This older man, with his curly beard and bald head, recalls the image of the satyr Silenus, who was one of the half-horse or half-goat followers of Dionysos. The vessel was made from a mold, created in two parts. The seam that divided the front and the back of the face is still visible on either side. The potter’s stamp, “Navigius pingit” (painted or made by Navigius), on the tall, flaring neck suggests that this vase was made by one of the primary workshops in North Africa.
Information
ca. 270–320 CE
Africa, Tunisia
Tunisia
- Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, Roman and western Asiatic antiquities and Islamic works of art: Friday, December 2, 1988..., (New York: Sotheby's, 1988)., lot no. 110 (color. illus.)
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1988," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 48, no. 1 (1989): p. 35-59., p. 43-44 (illus.)
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Natalie B. Kampen, E. Marlow, and R.M. Molholt, What is Man?: changing images of masculinity in Late Antique art, (Portland, OR: Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, 2002).
