DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15100#0146
93
with a similar appendage,6 and in the collection of the British Mu-
seum there is another gem which represents the head of that animal
with a bell thus worn. Before this ass a Bacchante,7 whose dra-
pery is bellying in the wind, is dancing and playing on a tympa-
num, and close to her is an aged bearded Satyr, with large goat's
horns 8 upon his forehead, dancing to her music. Behind him is a
group so quiet in their demeanour, that they appear to be rather
spectators, than actors in the voluptuous and drunken orgies which
form the subject of the sculpture. Among these is a female stand-
ing perfectly still, her head bound with close folds of cloth; her
body covered to her feet with decent simple drapery. Before her
is a Satyr, with a child upon his shoulders, holding a bunch of
grapes to another child standing before him. Behind him is an
animal which, as the slab is at present restored, appears to be an
elephant; this animal is rarely seen in Bacchanalian processions,
though an example of it occurs in a bas relief engraved in the
Museo Pio Clementino, iv. tab. 23, where it is supposed to have re-
ference to the conquest of India by Bacchus. It also occurs on a
very fine sarcophagus found at Arvi in the island of Crete, and
presented to the University of Cambridge by Sir Pulteney Malcolm,
cited in the last plate. It has however no place here, and is only
a remarkable instance of the extreme want of care and attention,
with which restorations of ancient sculptures were undertaken.
A comparison of the size of the animal with that of the Centaurs
6 Mus. Flor. i. tab. 90. fig. 3. In a Bacchanalian procession on a sarcophagus en-
graved, Mus. Capitolin. iv. tab. 49, are two figures with rows of bells hung round
their bodies, see the description of this plate, ibid. p. 256". Compare Visconti, Mus.
Pio Clement, iv. tav. 20. p. 155.
7 aXXi} § iv 7raXayUJ)u<, Karacr^TOQ aXpMTi Xvaaiig
\spm TrtpiKpoTtovaa fiapiiftpo/ia vtjra fiodnc,
opOiov iapapayyae poOwv (ivt'iktvttov rix>*>-
Nonnus, xiv. 1. 350-3. see Catullus, lxiv. 1. 262. Schwarz, Opuscula, p. 113.
8 See supra, p. 55, note 7.
with a similar appendage,6 and in the collection of the British Mu-
seum there is another gem which represents the head of that animal
with a bell thus worn. Before this ass a Bacchante,7 whose dra-
pery is bellying in the wind, is dancing and playing on a tympa-
num, and close to her is an aged bearded Satyr, with large goat's
horns 8 upon his forehead, dancing to her music. Behind him is a
group so quiet in their demeanour, that they appear to be rather
spectators, than actors in the voluptuous and drunken orgies which
form the subject of the sculpture. Among these is a female stand-
ing perfectly still, her head bound with close folds of cloth; her
body covered to her feet with decent simple drapery. Before her
is a Satyr, with a child upon his shoulders, holding a bunch of
grapes to another child standing before him. Behind him is an
animal which, as the slab is at present restored, appears to be an
elephant; this animal is rarely seen in Bacchanalian processions,
though an example of it occurs in a bas relief engraved in the
Museo Pio Clementino, iv. tab. 23, where it is supposed to have re-
ference to the conquest of India by Bacchus. It also occurs on a
very fine sarcophagus found at Arvi in the island of Crete, and
presented to the University of Cambridge by Sir Pulteney Malcolm,
cited in the last plate. It has however no place here, and is only
a remarkable instance of the extreme want of care and attention,
with which restorations of ancient sculptures were undertaken.
A comparison of the size of the animal with that of the Centaurs
6 Mus. Flor. i. tab. 90. fig. 3. In a Bacchanalian procession on a sarcophagus en-
graved, Mus. Capitolin. iv. tab. 49, are two figures with rows of bells hung round
their bodies, see the description of this plate, ibid. p. 256". Compare Visconti, Mus.
Pio Clement, iv. tav. 20. p. 155.
7 aXXi} § iv 7raXayUJ)u<, Karacr^TOQ aXpMTi Xvaaiig
\spm TrtpiKpoTtovaa fiapiiftpo/ia vtjra fiodnc,
opOiov iapapayyae poOwv (ivt'iktvttov rix>*>-
Nonnus, xiv. 1. 350-3. see Catullus, lxiv. 1. 262. Schwarz, Opuscula, p. 113.
8 See supra, p. 55, note 7.