Bowl with Winged Female Figure

Place of OriginUkraine, reportedly from Panticapaeum (modern Kerch, Crimea)

Dateabout 325-250 BCE

Dimensions2 1/4 × 7 9/16 × 7 9/16 in. (5.7 × 19.2 × 19.2 cm)

MediumSilver with gilded decoration

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LineGift of The Georgia Welles Apollo Society

Object number

2022.21

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionThe bowl is formed from a single piece of hammered and raised silver. Its interior features chased and engraved concentric rings and a separately made central medallion soldered into place. The medallion displays a high-relief bust of a winged female figure adorned with a thyrsus and fawn-skin, with gilded accents applied by leaf method. Areas of the gilding are vertically striated, suggesting overlap of gold leaf. Multiple restorations include resin fills and retouched cracks, particularly around the roundel and facial features.

Label TextSilver vessels like this one were prized luxuries in the Hellenistic world. The central medallion, rendered in high relief and accented with gold leaf, shows a winged female figure. She wears a fawn-skin and wreath and holds a thyrsus, all symbols linked to Dionysos, god of wine. Yet her wings suggest Eros, god of love. This blending of attributes resists easy identification. Hellenistic artists often played with mixed iconographies to evoke complex emotions and invite allegorical interpretation. The bowl is believed to come from a hoard of nineteen silver objects reportedly found in 1909 in Kerch, a city on the Black Sea and site of ancient Panticapaeum, a wealthy Greek colony. While the precise findspot is unknown, the bowl’s style, material, and early documentation support its origin in this richly Hellenized region.