Inscribed on the base sketchily in Greek, "Pausi[ ]," and more deeply engraved in Punic (Carthaginian) characters, an indication of weight
This libation bowl, decorated with bees, acorns, and beechnuts, is worked in repoussé. Phialai decorated with acorns were being made by the late sixth century B.C. and must have been traditional. Acorns could also be seen on the phialai held by the caryatids of the Erechtheum on the Akropolis in Athens, as we learn from Roman copies found in Hadrian's villa at Tivoli.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Gold phiale (libation bowl)
Period:Late Classical or Hellenistic
Date:4th–3rd century BCE
Culture:Greek
Medium:Gold
Dimensions:H. 1 7/16 in. (3.6 cm); diameter 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm)
Classification:Gold and Silver
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1962
Object Number:62.11.1
Inscription: In Greek: "Pausi[ ]" and also a designation of weight in Punic characters
[Until 1962, with Robert E. Hecht, Jr.]; acquired in 1962, purchased from Robert E. Hecht, Jr.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1962. "A Gold Libation Bowl." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 21(4): pp. 154–55, figs. 2–8.
Amandry, Pierre. 1963. Collection Hélène Stathatos: Ojets Antiques et Byzantins, Vol. 3. p. 232 n. 2, 3, Strasbourg: l'Institut d'archéologie de l'Université de Strasbourg.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1963. "Reports of the Departments." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 22(2): p. 71.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1964. Guide to the Collections: Greek and Roman Art. pp. 30–1, fig. 42, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Strong, Donald. 1966. Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate. pp. 97–8, pl. 32A, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Byvanck-Quarles van Ufford, Lili. 1966. "Remarques sur ler relations entre l’Ionie grecque, La Thrace et l’Italie." Babesch: Bulletin Antieke Beschavung, 41: p. 40, fig. 7.
Beeson, Nora B. 1972. Guide to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Gómez-Moreno, Carmen. 1973. "Gold." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 31(2): pp. 74–75.
Cardon, Carol Moon. 1978-79. "Two Omphalos Phialai." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, 6-7: p. 131.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. no. 61, p. 82, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Pfrommer, Michael. 1987. Studien zu Alexandrinischer und Grossgriechischer Toreutik frühhellenistischer Zeit, Archäologische Forschungen 16. p. 62 n. 344, Berlin: Mann.
Vickers, Michael. 1988. "Demus’s Gold Phiale (Lysias 19.25)." American Journal of Ancient History, 9(1): pp. 48–53, pl. 3a.
Howard Kathleen. 1994. Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide: Works of Art Selected by Philippe De Montebello no. 26, p. 172, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bodel, John P. and Stephen Tracy. 1997. Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the USA : A Checklist. p. 193, Rome: American Academy in Rome.
Manchester, Karen. 1999. "The New Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Apollo, 150: p. 7, fig. 7.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 231, pp. 195, 450, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hecht Robert. 2014. Bob Hecht by Bob Hecht, Geraldine Norman, ed. pp. xi, 52, fig. 4.
Gaifman, Milette. 2018. The Art of Libation in Classical Athens. pp. 46–47, fig. 1.22, New Haven: Yale University Press.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
