Cup with Dionysiac Motifs

Place of OriginLikely Turkey, reportedly from near Istanbul

Dateabout 10-50 CE

DimensionsH: 2 3/4 in. (7 cm); Diam. (rim): 3 1/2 in. (8.8 cm)

MediumSilver, hammered relief decoration and partially gilded.

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1961.9

Not on View

DescriptionA silver double-walled cup with Bacchic motifs rendered in repoussé. The outer shell depicts elaborate Dionysiac scenes, including satyrs, musical instruments, and lush vegetation. Soldering marks suggest previously attached foot and handles. Notable wear and minor dents reflect its age. Hammer marks on the inner bowl indicate skilled metalworking.

Label TextMore than simple silverware, this cup is an artistic masterpiece adorned with delicate designs. The masks, wine containers, and musical instruments all reference the festivities of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and theater. Most masks on luxurious Roman drinking cups represent characters from tragic, comic, and satyr (burlesque) plays written by Greek poets in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. These antique plays were fashionable in elite literary circles of the early Empire, because by this time, mime and pantomime had become the dominant forms for popular theater, neither of which used masks. Reportedly found near Istanbul, this cup was part of a treasure that included three silver cups now in the British Museum (1960,0201.1-3) and a ladle in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1961.159).Published References

"New Accessions," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 5, no. 3, Autumn 1962, p. 54, repr.

Vermeule, Cornelius C., "Additions to the Greek, Etruscan and Roman Collections in Boston," The Classical Journal, vol. 58, no. 1, October 1962, p. 11.

"Accessions of the American and Canadian Museums, April-June 1962," Art Quarterly, vol. XXV, no.3, Autumn 1962, p. 262, repr. p. 265.

Vermeule, Cornelius C., "Augustan and Julio-Claudian Court Silver," Antike Kunst, vol. 6, no. 1, 1963, pp. 33, 34, 39, 40, repr. pl. 14, (1, 3, 5).

"La Chronique des Arts," Supplement a la "Gazette des Beaux-Arts", no. 1129, Paris, Février 1963, p. 67.

Greek and Roman Metalwork, Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 1976, no. 66, p. (3), repr. back cover.

Oliver, Andrew. Silver for the Gods 800 Years of Greek and Roman Silver, Toledo: Toledo Museum of Art, 1977, no. 76, p. 116-118, repr.

Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, Lucia, L'Argento dei romaissh vasellame da tavola e d'apparato, Rome, 1991, no. 14, p. 254, figs. 9-12, pp. 10, 11.

Pfrommer, Michael. Metalwork from the Hellenized East : catalogue of the collections, Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1993, p. 66, n. 805.

Kondolean, Christine, Antioch: the Lost Ancient City, Princeton University Press, 2000, no. 69, p. 186-187, repr. (col).

Oliver, Andrew, Jr., "The Changing Fashions of Roman Silver," Record, Princeton Art Museum, vol. 63, 2004, p. 13, fig. 18.

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, repr. (col.) fig. 8.1, p. 32.

Dan, Anca, Grenet, Frantz, and Sims-Williams, Nicholas, “Homeric Scenes in Bactria and India: Two Silver Plates with Bactrian and Middle Persian Inscriptions,” Bulletin of the Asia Institute, vol. 28, 2014, p. 201, fig. 9.

Williams, Dyfri, "A Cantharus from ancient Betar near Jerusalem (the so-called Warren Cup) and Roman Silver Plate," Babesch 90 (2015), fig. 11, p. 160.

Powers, Jessica, Roman Landscapes: Visions of Nature and Myth from Rome and Pompeii,, San Antonio Museum of Art, 2023, cat. no. 43 repr. (col.) , p. 154, p. 63.

Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, Treasures for Toledo, December 1964-January 1965.

Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, Greek and Roman Metalwork, 1976.

Toledo Museum of Art; Kansas City, Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Silver for the Gods, 1977-1978.

Worcester Art Museum; Cleveland Museum of Art; Baltimore Museum of Art, Antioch: the Lost Ancient City, 2000-2001.

Toledo Museum of Art, In Stabiano, November 11, 2006-January 28, 2007 San Antonio, TX, San Antonio Museum of Art, Art, Nature and Myth in Ancient Rome, February 24 - May 21, 2023

Comparative ReferencesSee also Corbett, P.E., and D.E. Strong, "Three Roman SIlver Cups," The British Museum Quarterly, XXIII, no. 3, (1961), pp. 68-86, pls. XXXI-XXXVII. A comprehensive discussion of the three other cups said to have come from the same find as Toledo's cup and the Boston ladle. The British Museum prefers a somewhat earlier date for its cups, in the 1st century B.C. Like ours, their cups are composed of a case adn liner, and they formerly had feet and handles. The authors believe that the British Museum cus could have originated either in one of the Greek centers or in Italy.

cf. Haynes, Sybille, "Drei Silberbecher in British Museum," Antike Kunst, 1961, vol. 4, pp. 30-36.

cf. "Le Trésor de Boscoreale," Monuments Piot, 5, 1899, pl. 9-18.

cf. Pernice, E. and F. Winter, Der Hildesheimer Silberfund, 1901, pl. 11.

cf. Maiuri, A., La Casa di Menandro e il suo Tesoro de Argenteria, pl. 31-37.

cf. Babelon, E., Le Trésor de Berthonville, pl. 16-19.