Yet another outrageous thing to find at the bottom of your wine cup! And not the worse place for an aging silenos at the end of his career… It’s a gorgeous but small medallion (silver, chased and gilt) that would have sat in the bottom of a drinking cup and rather small at 8.5 cm in diameter.
What makes this one special is the absolutely top level of craftsmanship – the details are insane with every eyebrow delineated and even the large pores on the nose of a gentleman who mightily enjoyed his wining and feasting. And even in miniature, the artist has managed a striking monumental quality – the feistiness (or perhaps even pathos) on full and gorgeous display.
It was allegedly found from Miletopolis in Turkey, and aspects of its baroque style have invited comparisons to the Great Frieze of the Pergamon Altar and perhaps even connection to that city’s court. I’m happy to suspend my disbelief and picture it on the table of one of the Attalids.
These removable medallions are a current obsession of mine (one benefit of being an ignorant dabbler is so many things delight and amuse! A specialist might have a pat answer at the ready and ruin my day), and I wonder what the idea was: where they swapped out at the whim of the host to enliven the drinker’s experience? Fun.
