File away the interior of this famous silver cup under ‘cool things to find at the bottom of your wineglass’…because while it is a masterpiece of late Hellenistic silver work, 1st century aegyptomania and perhaps even dynastic propaganda, at its core (if you allow me to be even more banal than usual) it is very fancy table-wear and the splashy result of centuries of experimentation with novelty tondi and emblemata.
The ‘Boscoreale treasure’ refers to the nearly 30kg of silver vessels squirreled away by the wealthy owners (we presume…) of villa in the Bay of Naples before the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. , rediscovered in the late 19th century and donated by the Baron de Rothschild to the Louvre.
And this is its crown jewel, with the dominant emblema within the cup iconographically overloaded. The central female bust wears an elephant skin cap (check out those gilt ears!), wields a cornucopia and club, and is surrounded by africanish creatures and accoutrements (asp, panther, sistrum, and so many more).
So ‘burdened with religious and political symbols’ is she (to quote the great Susan Walker), that some have sought to identify her not just as an allegorical ‘Africa’ but as semi-tragic Cleopatra Selene – the daughter of Cleopatra and Marc Antony who presided over the North African kingdom of Mauretania and through enthusiastic royal patronage made that vassal state a thriving center of arts and learning. Tempting to link her to the fascinating last vestige of the Ptolemaic royal house, but ultimately impossible to prove. Thoughts?
