The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 4, 2023

The Vicarello Goblet

25 BC–AD 25

Italy, Vicarello (ancient Aquae Apollinares), Roman, Augustan period

Silver

Overall: 12.2 x 7.8 cm (4 13/16 x 3 1/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1966.371

Location

103 Roman

Fun Fact

This silver cup was found north of Rome at Vicarello (ancient Aquae Apollinares), probably in 1862.

Description

This masterpiece of the Roman silversmith’s art is exquisitely worked in relief. The multifigure scene centers on a rustic shrine of the ithyphallic fertility god Priapus, son of Dionysos. He takes the form of a stylized boundary marker atop a column, where a woman seems to have brought him to life by touching him. To the left sits a table with votive offerings to the god. Flanking the shrine are a satyr and maenad, dancing ecstatically.

Provenance
1867 or after-
Sir William Drake, F.S.A. (1817-1890), London, England
By 1912
Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934), Paris, France
1966
[Auction: Christie's, London, (1966 APR 05), no. 12]
1966-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Otto Jahn, Archiologische Zeitung XXV (Berlin, 1867). pp. 78-82, pl. CCXXV
Lièvre, Ed, Bracquemond, Courtry, and Flameng. Works of Art in the Collections of England. Engr. London: [s.n.], 1874. pl XLVIII
Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire de reliefs grecs et romains. Paris: E. Leroux, 1912. II, 301
Daremberg, Charles Victor, and Edm Saglio. Dictionnaire des antiquités Grecques et Romains d'après les textes et les monuments. Paris: Hachette, 1926. IV, pt. 2, p. 1479
Christie, Manson & Woods. Important English, Continental and Islamic, Medieval, Renaissance and Other Works of Art. 1966. no. 12
Cooney, John D. "The Vicarello Goblet." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 2 (1967). www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 24 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 28 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 12 archive.org
Falkenstein-Wirth, Vera von. Das Quellheiligtum von Vicarello (Aquae Apollinares): ein Kultort von der Bronzezeit bis zum Ende des Kaiserreichs. Darmstadt: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2011. pp 246-247, fig 190-192
Exhibition history

Silver for the Gods: 800 Years of Greek and Roman Silver. The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH (organizer) (October 8-November 20, 1977); The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (December 11, 1977-January 22, 1978); Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (February 18-April 2, 1978).

The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986).

Collecting Drawings in England. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1987-January 17, 1988).

All That Glitters: Great Silver Vessels in Cleveland's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 23, 1994-January 8, 1995).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.371