Tears and Revel
The Allegory of the Berthouville Centaur Scyphi
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4535711 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jon Van De Grift (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1984 |
| Volume | 88 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 377-388 |
| Publication date | 1984-07-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/504559 |
| OpenAlex | W2315345267 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
The relief decoration on a matching pair of silver drinking cups from the Berthouville Treasure in Paris is an important example of the use of Dionysiac imagery in Roman private art of the early Empire. The principal theme of the decoration—the contrasting passions of joy and suffering connected with the Dionysiac realm—is presented as an allegory and portrayed by contrasting pairs of centaurs with amorini, comparable with the Capitoline centaurs by the sculptors Aristeas and Papias. A skillful orchestration of eclectic supporting imagery distinguishes the scyphi from other examples of Roman metalware decorated with Dionysiac subject matter. While the source for the antithetical theme is found in Dionysiac theology, its rhetorical and epigrammatic adaptation for the Berthouville scyphi is close in character to literary motifs in early Imperial literature, suggesting that the elaboration, if not the creation, of the tableau may be attributed to this period
Allegory · Art · Art history · Centaur · Epithet · Literature · Theme (computing · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · History
| Citations per year | 0.38 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2020 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |