"Sacred to Bacchus" Wine Ewer

Designer John Flaxman Sr. (English, 1726 - 1795)

Manufacturer Wedgwood Factory (English, founded 1759)

Dateca. 1840; designed ca. 1775

MediumStoneware with metallic oxide stain (basalt ware)

DimensionsOverall: 15 × 7 × 6 3/4 inches (38.1 × 17.78 × 17.15 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Donna J. Meyer

Object number2005.12.1

MarkingsBottom center: "Wedgwood S"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionThe black basalt ceramic ware depicts a figure of a satyr (half man, half goat) with goat legs, seated on the collar of the ewer. The satyr's legs, bent at the knees, and his arms are wrapped around the spout of the ewer. The back of the ewer's spout divides into two ribbons that encircle the head of the satyr, and then rejoin into one flat ribbon to form the wavy, looped handle of the ewer. In his hands, the satyr holds the horns of a ram whose head rests on the collar of the ewer and continues down the side of the ewer underneath the spout. At approximately the midpoint of the goat's horns, two garlands, composed of foliated grape vines with hanging fruit, emerge and sweep down the sides of the ewer in a semi-circular line, ending at the base of the ewer's handle. The circumference of the lower third of the ewer's body is decorated with an oranmental border and gadroons that taper down to the ewer's flared base, which is decorated with gadroons and a foliate border. The square plinth, on which the base rests, is plain on top with framed, ractangular areas of foliated vines on the sides. The bottom of the square plinth is impressed "Wedgwood" and "S", denoting the ewer is for wine.

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