Lidded Cauldron with a Satyr in the Getty Villa, July 2008

Lidded Cauldron with a Satyr
Unknown
Greek, Eastern Mediterranean, 50 - 1 B.C.
Bronze and silver
22 13/16 in.
96.AC.51

From the front of this lebes or cauldron emerges a half-length figure of a drunken satyr, one of the companions of Dionysos, the god of wine. The young satyr, wearing a wreath and holding a drinking cup, snaps his fingers, throws his head back, and grins in Dionysiac ecstasy. He seems to grow from a swirl of flowering tendrils, grape leaves, and plants meant to refer to Dionysos. Wine and water would have been mixed and served in this lidded, bronze lebes, following the Greek custom of diluting the strong wine they produced.

The luxuriously decorated lebes with spool feet is unique. No other vessel of this large size, showing such a variety of metalworking techniques, is known. Silver inlays form the satyr's eyes and teeth and many of the flowers. This was a costly item, attesting to the wealth and status of its owner. The vessel's excellent state of preservation implies that it comes from a tomb, where it may have been used as an offering to the gods or as a cinerary urn for cremated remains.

Text from: www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=35498