Bell krater (Paestan red-figure ware)
360 BCE
Medium
earthenware
Measurements
35.6 × 34.6 cm diameter
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1980
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts - Gandel Hall Costume Corridor
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
The pottery workshop of Paestum in Southern Italy flourished during the second half of the fourth century BCE. The decoration on this bell krater is particularly important because the main scene links the worship of Dionysus with the comic theatre, through the comic mask held by the maenad (female attendant of Dionysus) on the right. On the left, a youthful Dionysus holds a thyrsos, or fennel stalk – symbol of Dionysiac ritual – and a libation dish. The maenad on the right offers the god a sprig of ivy and holds a comic mask of an angry old man. The drapery on both figures has a distinctive black border, a hallmark of the painter Asteas.