A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c16.s5.2

c16.s5.2

‘It represents in high relief, with all the usual adjuncts of classical mythology, the procession of Dionysus. The god himself sits in a car drawn by two harnessed females, with a drinking-cup in his extended right hand, and his left arm resting on the carved elbow of the seat on which he reclines, or it may be on the shoulder of Ariadne. In front of the car stands a winged Eros holding a wine-jug in his left hand, and brandishing in his right a fillet, the other end of which is held by a flying Eros. A third Eros is pushing the wheel of the carriage, behind which follows the dancing Heracles, recognized by the club and panther's skin. Over all is a rude and highly conventionalized representation of a clustering vine; and in the lower exergue a panther is seen pressing its head into a wine-jar, placed between the representations of some tree; possibly the pomegranate, arranged symmetrically on either side of it. The figures, which show traces of gilding, are all encrusted on the surface of the patera, and the heads of the Dionysus and Heracles are both wanting.’