Getty Museum

Roundel with Bust of Dionysos

Date

third quarter of 2nd century B.C.

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Greek

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

A high relief bust of Dionysos, the god of wine, decorates this bronze roundel. The bare-chested god wears only a mantle draped over one shoulder. A beribboned thyrsos, or pinecone-topped staff, rests on the same shoulder. Both a fillet or ribbon and an ivy wreath rich with leaves and berries adorn the god's head. Dionysos is shown as young and beardless with a placid expression. The irises and pupils of the god's eyes are indicated in a metal of a different color. The style of this piece suggests that it dates just after the middle of the 100s B.C. Scholars do not know to what sort of object this roundel was attached. Three attachment holes remain: two through the flat border and one, now blocked, through the raised background behind Dionysos's shoulder. Large sections of the border at the bottom and top of the roundel also appear to have been carefully cut away.

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