1st century BC-1st century AD. A red slip ware pelike with figures associated with the cult of Pan or Silvanus, comprising from handle to handle: Papposilenus, in his typical older aspect, half-naked and with the limbs covered by a cloak, raising over a dish a propitiatory phallus; a half-naked maenad with a cornucopia; a half-naked maenad seated with a patera in the right hand; a pair of naked musicians, only covered by a floating cloak, one playing the flute and the other playing the pipes in front of a simulacrum of Priapus, with erect phallus and decorated with foliage and fruit. See Walters, H.B., Catalogue of the Roman Pottery in the British Museum, London, 1908.202 grams, 17cm (6 3/4"). Property of a London gentleman; acquired on the European art market; previously in a European private collection; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10423-170434. The Greek term pelike (pl. pelikai) was used for a number of shapes, and it is not certain what this one-piece vessel with a distinctive sagging belly was called in antiquity. It seems to have been invented after the introduction of the red-figure technique, although there are examples in black-figure. It continued to be produced into the 4th century and in the Roman Age. It is shown in use as a container for liquids, especially wine, and in this context was linked with Bacchus, Pan, Silenus. [A video of this lot is available to view on TimeLine Auctions website.] Very fine condition.