Furniture Support with a Statue Procession

Unknown

about 50 B.C.

Marble with traces of polychromy, Marble, Polychromy

J. Paul Getty Museum

A marble relief depicts a procession with two horses, a charioteer seated in a chariot, and a standing figure. The scene is carved in low relief with visible traces of polychromy. Originally part of the base for an unknown object, the top of this relief preserves a cutting with part of a metal clamp for attachment. The surface on which the figures are carved is slightly curved. The scene depicts a ritual procession transporting a cult statue of the wine-god Dionysos to a festival or sanctuary. The bearded god has long hair tied in the rear, wears a long-sleeved tunic, and holds a phiale (libation vessel) in his now-broken right hand. The statue, seated on a folding stool under a canopy supported by four thyrsoi (ritual staffs sacred to the deity), is being drawn on a two-wheeled cart. A youth wearing a short