Dionysus bowl

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Inside picture of the shell
Side view of the shell
External view of the shell
signature

The Dionysus bowl is one of the most famous works of ancient Greek ceramics . The drinking bowl is considered to be one of the main works of the potter and Attic black-figure vase painter Exekias and one of the most important works of the Staatliche Antikensammlungen in Munich , inventory number 8729 (formerly 2044).

The bowl was found during the excavations of Lucien Bonaparte in Vulci and acquired in 1841 for King Ludwig I of Bavaria .

Shape and type

The vase with a height of 13.6 cm and a diameter of 30.5 cm has been completely preserved and has only been made up of a few pieces. She can be assigned to Exekias as a potter, because he signed her with ΕΧΣΕΚΙΑΣ ΕΠΟΕΣΕ - Exekias did it on the foot. An attribution to him as a painter was based on stylistic comparisons. The bowl is generally attributed to the artist's late work as a vase painter; it is believed to have been between 540 and 530 BC. Have been created.

The shell has various technical innovations. As a potter, Exekias used older molds, which he arranged in a completely new form. This shape, the so-called shell type A with a thick base plate, foot stem with an annular bulge and a wide, deep basin, should become the predominant shape within a short time. These eye cups were first introduced by Exekias, possibly with this piece. Since the eyes are reminiscent of those of a panther and the panther is one of the symbolic animals of Dionysus, the pair of eyes would also fit the motif of the interior picture. Later, the indication of a nose between the eyes was less common. The decoration of the handle zone was also new, but unlike other innovations, it was not included in the usual decoration canon, nor was the almost complete filling of the tondo, which was later mainly adopted by the Penthesilea painter , but was rarely used . Until then, it was customary for the inside of a bowl to be generally adorned by a comparatively small, framed tondo with a gorgoneion . The technique of intentional red was also new, but only for a few years during the experiment and then only rarely used . Here the background was kept in a particularly intense, darker red tone. Here, too, the bowl is considered the earliest piece.

Description and interpretation

The interior image takes up almost the entire interior of the bowl, the tondo . A sailing ship is shown in the center, moving from right to left. The bow of the ship ends in an animal head, at the stern the rudders are clearly visible. On the ship lies a larger than life figure, which is interpreted as the god Dionysus . Unlike the rest of the picture, the sail is shown in white, a common stylistic element in the black-figure style. Grow out of the mast vines bearing right and three left four large grapes. Two dolphins swim under the ship to the right, three dolphins to the left. Another dolphin can be found on the left and right of the ship. Even if the perspective is not correct, it is intended to indicate that the marine mammals swim around the ship. Like wine, the dolphins are symbols of Dionysus. In addition to the obvious image content, there are also various details. Ivy grows over the ship and the vines turn into snakes. On the side of the ship, two small dolphins have been cut out of the clay ground. The bearded, long-haired god himself wears a crown and a cornucopia in his hand. His cloak has a fine pattern.

On each of the two outer sides in the handle zone, six warriors fight for a corpse. On one side the corpse is still in arms, on the other side unclothed. Eyes and noses are painted on the spaces between the handles.

There are two interpretations of the representation. The most common assumption is that it is a reproduction of the 7th Homeric Hymn , which describes how Dionysus is captured by Tyrrhenian pirates. They weren't sure who they were facing. The god confused their thoughts and made them jump into the water, where he turned them into dolphins. The images in the handle zone possibly show the struggles for the corpses of Patroclus and Achilles , where Patroclus is the undressed corpse. A second interpretation of the picture is that the arrival of Dionysus is shown at the Anthesteries of Athens .

literature

Web links

Commons : Dionysus bowl  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. Ratings by John Boardman: Black-figure vases from Athens. Mainz 1977, p. 64 and Thomas Mannack: Greek vase painting. Stuttgart 2002, p. 121.
  2. ^ Descriptions based on Matthias Steinhart: Exekias . In: Artists lexicon of antiquity. Volume 1. Munich, Leipzig 2001, pp. 249-252.
  3. ^ Interpretations according to Matthias Steinhart: Exekias . In: Artists lexicon of antiquity. Volume 1. Munich, Leipzig 2001, pp. 249-252.