Apulian figured oinochoe

First half of the 4th century B.C.
Melfi, Museo Archeologico Nazionale “M. Pallottino”
Inv. 345283

 

This ewer for pouring wine has the form of a male face wearing women's makeup, with a pendent in the shape of a panther's head, an animal symbolic of Dionysus. It thus presents all of the symbols of the god: wine, male-female ambiguity, and the feral element.