3-037-549 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Red-Slip Pyriform Jug, A.D. 200-275. Additional Info: Red-slip pyriform jug, with circular foot, decorated all around by scenes drawn from the wild beast hunts (venationes) staged in amphitheaters. The main decorative motifs are distributed over two vertical zones. Depicted are two scenes of venatores (professional performing hunters) wrestling with boars, spanned above by arched ornamental elements. Opposite the handle, and between the two scenes of venatio, is a wreath with five upstanding plumes, emblems of the team acclaimed in a tabula ansata below, where the inscription "Perexi Nika" ("Victory to the Perexii") can be read. The handle itself is flanked by acanthus leaves; below the mouth of the jug, running all around, are grapes. All the decorations consist in mold-made appliques attached to the surface of the vessel. Such vases may have served as souvenirs of shows.