Bacchanalia Kylix

Attributed to Rom av.JC

This monumental kylix, presented as a fragmentary assemblage, depicts a scene drawn from the Dionysian repertoire. Bacchus stands with a cup raised; facing him, a maenad advances, carrying a vessel intended for the service of wine. The scene does not recount a specific episode. It holds a ritual moment in tension: that of the symposion, a suspended space in which wine is neither mere drink nor decoration, but an active agent of relation.

The vine scrolls and vegetal motifs invade the composition. They are not ornamental. They signal a continuity between nature, bodies, and ritual, reminding us that celebration is a force that traverses epochs as much as it belongs to a given culture. The work is composed of fragmented skateboard decks, subsequently covered with clay. This contemporary material, marked by use, impact, and repetition, is deliberately treated as a vestige. It does not quote Antiquity; it adopts its temporal regime.

Presented as a relic without stable dating, this kylix does not seek to reconstruct the past. It proposes a continuity: that of a rite which changes form yet persists, so long as matter retains the memory of bodies and use.

Title: Bacchanalia Kylix

Artist: Attributed to Rom av.JC

Period: Archaic

Date: ca. 25 B.C.

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Skateboards; black-figure

Dimensions: H. 47 in. (120 cm)
length 47 in. (120 cm)

Classification: Vases