A Roman Bone Plaque with a Dionysiac Scene

Circa 3rd Century A.D.

Height 4 inches (10.16 cm).

Provenance:

Rudolf Adelbert Meyer-Riefstahl (1880-1936), Paris; thence by descent to Rudolf Meyer Riefstahl (1929-2011).

Sotheby's, New York, Antiquities, 12 December 2013, Lot 53.

Exhibited:

Michigan, Detriot, The Detroit Institute of Art, 1973-2003.

This intimate and finely carved plaque depicts a voyeuristic scene in which a satyr pulls back a curtain to reveal a kneeling maenad.

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Mr. Coley joined the Antiquities department in 2021 after working as Managing Director in the Ancient Art department at Colnaghi, the world’s oldest commercial art gallery, where he helped to establish the Ancient Art department and launched Colnaghi New York in 2017. Prior to Colnaghi, Mr. Coley was in the Greek and Roman Art department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Coley holds a B.A. from the University of Miami and an M.A. in Art Market from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and he earned an art-appraisal certificate from New York University.

Antiquities and Ancient Art

A Roman Bone Plaque with a Dionysiac Scene

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