Bacchus on a barrel

Bacchus on a barrel, maybe Dresden, before 1706. Baroque pearl, gold, silver, partially gilt, enamel, diamonds. H 9.0 cm. Green Vault, VI 99. © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

On a small keg poised Bacchus, in his left hand a golden cup with red enameled foot reserved. Head, shoulders and hips of the unclothed figure cover vines; loincloth as it is one of two diamond-lined silver wine grape. Another, now lost "red wine grapes" presented the fat god of wine once in his right hand.He sits on a relatively simple, structured only by profiles pedestal, which is different from the richly engraved and decorated with enamel or gemstones bases of many other pieces. Another, also from a baroque cultured pearl Bacchus Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick, agrees in many details of the Dresdner piece. He was holding a grape originally from ruby and an enameled drinking vessel, but sitting on a barrel designed as a clock. The type of Bacchus as a gnome on a barrel is a confusion with the fat Silenus, the tutor to the wine god, returned. Since the second half of the 16th Century, he served in seasons or monthly cycles are often the personification of autumn or the month of October.Also, the enthroned on a barrel and crowned with vine wine God found in the courtly festival being input as it is occupied for about 1695, held in Dresden gods lift. In the field of figurative drinking vessels and table fountains, it stands for the transformation of the vine fruits in wine, but also, more generally, a symbol of Baroque sensuality. As a prototype, this extremely popular motif is the bronze portrait of Hofzwergs of Cosimo I de Medici, Nano Morgante, the sculptor Giambologna (before 1608).

Source: http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2013/08/26/27899124.html