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The Vicarello Goblet
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This masterpiece of the Roman silversmith’s art is exquisitely worked in relief. The multifigure scene centers on a rustic shrine of the ithyphallic fertility god Priapus, son of Dionysos. He takes the form of a stylized boundary marker atop a column, where a woman seems to have brought him to life by touching him. To the left sits a table with votive offerings to the god. Flanking the shrine are a satyr and maenad, dancing ecstatically.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe Vicarello Goblet, 25 BCE–25 CE. Italy, Vicarello (ancient Aquae Apollinares), Roman, Augustan period. Silver; overall: 12.2 x 7.8 cm (4 13/16 x 3 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1966.371
