| Method | Copper engraving with hand colouring |
| Artist | Giovanni Battista Passeri |
| Published | Romae, MDCCLXVII. Ex Typographio Johannis Zempel. [1767] |
| Dimensions | Image 274 x 153 mm, Plate 293 x 163 mm, Sheet 385 x 236 mm |
| Notes |
A depiction of a red-figure vase, with two panels below featuring details of its decoration, Plate 67 from Volume 1 of Passeri's Picturae Etruscorum in Vasculis Nunc Primum in Unum Collectae. The vase is probably a miniature pelike, a type of storage vessel used almost exclusively for liquids. The decoration features two figural scenes. The first depicts a standing woman and a nude seated man holding up a box or chest. Passeri's commentary ascribes a Bacchic origin to this scene, seeing the chest as the cista used in Bacchic initiations. If this is the case, the female character is probably a maenad, who has just discarded her tympanum (drum) on the ground between the two figures. The second scene involves a similar pair, the woman standing and the man seated, but also a winged figure perched between them on a cloud. Passeri believes this to be a representation of a birth ritual, though it could equally be a domestic scene such as a wedding, a mythological scene perhaps involving Adonis, or even a funerary scene. Condition: Some minor time toning to edges of sheet, and faint discolouration to margins. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £80.00 |
| Stock ID | 39897 |