VERY LARGE APULIAN SKYPHOS
Ca. 370-360 BC.
A very sizeable and attractive red-figure painted skyphos (wine cup), depicting (on side A) a winged nude Eros in profile, riding a horse adorned by a petite dolphin brand on its buttocks, and (on side B) a nude male satyr with characteristically pointy asinine ears, standing with legs crossed at the knees, his torso skewed towards the right, and his profiled head turned towards the left, carrying a cloak over his right arm while leaning against his pedlum (shepherds crook), and extending his left arm outward. Standing beside him is a female maenad nymph, dressed in a flowing chiton and carrying a thyrsus (pine cone-tipped staff) in one hand - all suggesting a Dionysian context. Beneath each handle is an intricately delineated ensemble of stylized palmettes; above the scenes is a narrow register ovalo and below a somewhat wider meander band.
Size: L:280mm / W:410mm ; 3.17kg
Provenance: Property of a London Ancient Art Gallery; formerly acuired on the US art market; prevously in a NYC collection; Ex. Fortuna Fine Arts, NYC.
Estimate: GBP 10000 - 20000