Psykter by Douris: frolicking satyrs

This is a red-figure psykter dating from around 500-480BC, painted by the Athenian painter Douris, which depicts satyrs, the half-man, half-goat attendants of Dionysus. It is from Cerveteri in Italy and is kept in the British Museum in London. A pyskter is a mushroom shaped wine cooler, which would have been set to float in a krater filled with cold water. The depiction of satyrs on a wine cooler is appropriate given Dionysus status as god of wine. Douris was an Athenian vase painter and potter, who painted many items of pottery in the early 5th century BC. The Ws of the satyrs hips are particularly characteristic of his style. The satyrs have bushy, untrimmed beards and long tails, and have human feet rather than goat hooves. Their penises are visible and are often long and erect. Their figures are muscular and rendered quite naturally, with details such as pectoral muscles and curly chest hair, although we can see how Douris may forsake realism for artistry, such as in the unequal lengths of the arms of the handstanding satyr. We can see on the pskter a satyr doing a handstand and drinking out of a kylix, a shallow drinking cup, while another one watches over, like a parody of an athlete and trainer. To the left of this there are two satyrs dancing around a kanthraros, a taller drinking vessel, on the ground. To the right, there is a squatting satyr being fed wine straight from the wine skin by another satyr. On the opposite side of the krater there is a trio of satyrs, one holding a krater, and another pouring wine from an oinochoe into a kantharos which a squatting satyr is balancing on his penis. Such erotic depictions of satyrs were common, known for their lustiness, and his massive penis is typical for its huge size and lewdness. There is also a satyr dressed as Hermes, carrying a kerykeion, or caduceus, the heralds staff, wearing a travellers cloak and legwear. It has been suggested that Hermes represents the leader of the chorus of a satyr play. However, Hermes role is interesting as the messenger of the gods, but also the one who is the intermediary between the living and the dead, and in this case between restraint and excess. The wine which the psykter is meant to be drunk in a tasteful way, but the wine drunk by the satyrs is enjoyed liberally and without care for self-control. The satyrs are showing the enjoyment of wine in an amusing and over-the-top way, in which human conventions are turned on their head (quite literally), with wine being drunk unmixed, from the floor, from a lewd, huge erect penis. The juxtaposition of the refined human reality of the psykter and the bestial, unrestrained satyrs would be an artful reminder of the dual enjoyment and danger of wine. The main focus is on the satyrs, with no embellishment on the foot of the psykter, and only a delicate meandering border at the bottom of the main picture.