Bacchus...the Roman God of Wine and Merrymaking

Some of you have noticed the band of small photographs of vintage objects that runs across the top of the blog…so I guess that now is as good a time as any to begin to explain what they are and why they are there. They represent a particular type of antique or vintage decorative art that seems to jump out at us from its hiding place in the corner of a dusty old brocante and instantly makes our hearts flutter. They are shown above in no particular order,…but I’ll begin with the photo on the top left…
Sometimes we come across something that we have no clue whatsoever what it was originally meant to be…such is the case with this piece. Silvered metal and almost eleven inches wide, it has a well-executed three-dimensional motif…but where and how it was used is a mystery. What isn’t a mystery is its decorative value…it’s fabulous!It was a long, long time ago, and consequently, I’ve forgotten most of what I learned about classical mythology…but since one of our specialties is antique and vintage wine-related objects, I do remember that Bacchus was one of the gods of the Roman Empire…the Greeks called him Dionysus. By either name, he was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking, and wine. His side jobs included serving as the god of ecstasy, intoxication, merrymaking, and theatre arts.
On one side is Bacchus…
…to him we owe the term “Bacchanalia”…referring to a wild party with much revelry. Bacchus’ mission was to end care and worry. He certainly doesn’t look too worried here.
The other side features a Bacchante…
  …what the Romans called the female followers of Bacchus; the Greeks called them Maenads which means “raving”. Well, she’s certainly beautiful…
…perhaps that’s the origin of the phrase “raving beauty”!
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