Füsse einer Mänade

These fragments come from a relief that depicts a procession of dancing maenads; they are informed by figurative motifs from the late fifth century BC attributed to the sculptor Callimachus. He produced a procession of dancing maenads who, as part of the retinue of Dionysus, venerate the deity in expressive, ecstatic gestures. He created a template that would remain popular for a long time and that was among the most copied models in classical antiquity. Arranged in various sequences, they decorate reliefs and marble vessels, both small-scale and, like here, almost live-sized. A relief now in the Museo Barracco in Rome is very similar in format and arrangement to the fragments found at Ephesus; to make the composition easier to read a photograph of it is displayed behind the fragments.