Dumbarton Oaks - Dionysos and Leopard

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Dionysos and Leopard

Late Roman
4th century
7.9 cm x 5.6 cm (3 1/8 in. x 2 3/16 in.)
bone and wax
BZ.1945.5

On view

Permalink: http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/30351

Additional Images

Reverse

Obverse

Description

The plaque has an incised representation of a nude Dionysos leaning against a columnar pedestal. His mantle is caught between his legs and is taken up by his right arm and billows out like a veil. In his left hand he holds what appears to be a flowering branch. Emerging from behind the figure is a panther. The plaque was once filled with colored waxes.

Bibliography

The Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection of Harvard University, Handbook of the Collection, (Washington, D.C., 1946), 75, no. 149.

The Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Harvard University, (Washington, D.C., 1955), 103, no. 222.

Handbook of the Byzantine Collection, (Washington, D.C., 1967), 76, no. 267.

K. Weitzmann, Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, vol. 3, Ivories and Steatites, (Washington, D.C., 1972), 15-16, no. 6, pl. 7.

Acquisition History

Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, before 1945.

Purchased by Edith Stanton Newberry (1870–1956), Detroit, Michigan, November 1945.

Gifted by Newberry to Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC, November 1945.

Object Last Modified: 3/8/2023