Red-Figure Ram-Head Rhyton (Drinking Vessel): Symposiasts; Satyr and Maenad

c. 480–470 BC

Red-Figure Ram-Head Rhyton (Drinking Vessel): Symposiasts; Satyr and Maenad, c. 480–470 BC. Attributed to Brygos Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 490–470 BC). Ceramic; overall: 19 x 12.8 cm (7 1/2 x 5 1/16 in.); diameter of rim: 11.4 cm (4 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1988.8 Although now missing nearly half of its mold-made ram’s head, this rhyton, a kind of drinking horn, retains most of its painted red-figure sections. On the wheel-made bowl above, three symposiasts recline at a drinking party: a youth wearing a kidaris (flapped Scythian hat) and two bearded men holding drinking cups. The youth plays the pipes, while a lyre hangs nearby and one man throws his head back in song. The letters around them, which do not spell out known words, may allude to the music in the air. Flanking the handle are a pipe-playing satyr and a dancing maenad (only partially preserved). This vessel once had a foot, but only a bit of its stem remains.