Statue of Young Dionysos

Hellenistic or Roman; Eastern Mediterranean →

hellenisticroman (ancient, style or period)sculpturevessel

Date

100 BCE-100 CE

Medium

Bronze, copper, and silver (modern)

Dimensions

135.8 × 62 × 52 cm (54 × 24 1/2 × 20 in.)

Museum

Art Institute of Chicago

Location

Chicago, IL

Credit

Anonymous loan

This statue depicting Dionysos, god of wine and theater, is one of very few bronze statues to have survived from antiquity. It is thought that he once held a kantharos, or wine cup, in his raised right arm and may have held a thyrsos, a staff topped by a pine cone, in his left, since the deity is shown holding them in other ancient sculptures and paintings.

Also notable

Works in the same vein

Statuette of a Seated Girl

Greek; Athens

Kantharos (Wine Cup)

Greek; Apulia, Italy probably made in Canosa, said to have been found in Tarento, Italy

Earring with Dolphin Head Finial

Greek, Hellenistic

Fragment of a Portrait Statue of a Man

Roman