Ceramics CIMs 11311708

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CeramicsCIMs 11/3-11/7/08

• Stag Rhyton (First Century A.D.) Greece, Eastern
  Seleucid Empire

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Stag Rhyton
About the artist and the work. This gilt silver
rhyton is a good example of how artistic styles
can travel from region to region. This vessel is
believed to have been produced on the eastern
edge of the Seleucid empire, but artifacts that
feature designs similar to the ones found on this
rhyton are from a region that corresponds to part
of present-day Iraq. Art historians frequently
find that, as in this case, small and easily
carried objects are vehicles of artistic
exchange. When traders and others bring such
items with them on long journeys, they
inadvertently provide artists with new ideas and
models for their own artwork. The rhyton
reflects the animal motifs and decorative
patterns associated with Persian art.
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CIM 11/3/8

• What do you think the purpose of the Stag is and
  how was it used?

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Stag Rhyton 11/4/8

• The artist who made the rhyton did not include
  the forequarters of a stag just because it is an
  attractive animal. On the underside for the
  rhyton is an Aramaic-language inscription that
  dedicates the vessel to Artemis. In Greek
  mythology, Artemis was the goddess of the hunt.
  The stag is associated with her because she is
  said to have turned a young hunter into a stag
  after he annoyed her. The hunters own dogs then
  devoured the stag, which may explain why the
  stags eyes on the rhyton are wide open in an
  expression of fear.
• rhyton a container from which fluids were
  intended to be drunk, or else poured in some
  ceremony such as libation.

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CIM 11/4/8Why did the rhytons maker include the
stag? CIM 11/6/8Observe the finely detailed
floral ornamention on the rhyton. List as many
kinds of motifs as you can see in the patterned
area.CIM 11/7/8Why do you think the
ornamentation on the rhyton is important today?
Make a rhyton examples
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The Getty Villa Malibu

• The forepart of a stag emerges from the curving
  body of this gilt silver rhyton. The stag is very
  naturalistic and highly detailed, down to the
  rendering of veins in the snout. The wide inlaid
  eyes and the outstretched legs heighten the
  realism as the stag seemingly bolts in flight.
  The term rhyton comes from the Greek verb meaning
  "to run through," and depictions of rhyta on
  Greek vases show that they were used to aerate
  wine. Wine poured into the top of the vessel came
  out of a spout between the animal's legs. The
  spout on this example is now missing, but the
  hole remains visible. Stylistic features suggest
  that this rhyton was made in northwest Iran in
  the period from 50 B.C. to A.D. 50. This region
  had been part of the Achaemenid Persian Empire
  until Alexander the Great's conquest. After his
  death in 323 B.C., the Hellenistic Greek Seleucid
  dynasty, whose kingdom stretched from Turkey to
  Afghanistan, ruled this area. As Seleucid
  authority began to weaken In the later 200s B.C.,
  a group of semi-nomadic people called the
  Parthians, from the steppes of south central
  Asia, challenged the dynasty and by the mid-100s
  B.C. had firm control of this area of Iran. This
  complicated political history left its legacy in
  the art of the area. Rhyta of this form had a
  long history in earlier art of Iran, but the
  floral motifs were drawn from Seleucid art.
  
• Inscription

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Milho Museum
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Vessel stag
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Rhyton cat