Red-Figure Bell-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Bust of Dionysos and Comic Actors (A); Dionysos, Satyr, Maenad (B)

c. 390–380 BC

Red-Figure Bell-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Bust of Dionysos and Comic Actors (A); Dionysos, Satyr, Maenad (B), c. 390–380 BC. Attributed to Choregos Painter (South Italian, Apulian, active c. 390–380 BC). Ceramic; overall: 38 cm (14 15/16 in.); diameter of rim: 40.3 cm (15 7/8 in.); diameter of foot: 18.4 cm (7 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1989.73 Dionysos, the god of wine, theater, and the mysteries, dominates both sides of this bell-krater, a vessel for mixing water and wine. On the front, he appears in bust form, wearing a fillet and laurel wreath. Over his shoulder and behind his head rests his thyrsos, sprouting grapevines. Comic actors, identifiable by their masks and padded costumes, flank the colossal bust, stretching for a bunch of grapes on the left and holding a large skyphos (wine cup) on the right. On the reverse, Dionysos marches in procession with his retinue, a satyr and maenad. The large bust of Dionysos may represent a stage prop or symbolize the multifaceted god.