Child Bacchus Holding A Cup. 19th-century Bronze.

A draped, child-sized Bacchus figure crowned with vine leaves
raising a cup while seated cross-leggedon a rock
richly decorated with vine leaves and grapes.
Natural golden-yellow patina.
Basewhite-veined Griotte marble.
Date: late 19th century.
Very good condition.
Dimensions excluding base:
Height = 16 cm. Width = 10 cm. Depth = 10 cm.
Base dimensions:
Diameter = 12.5 cmHeight = 2.6 cm.

Bacchus is the son of Jupiter and the nymph Semele
a young mortal princess, daughter of the king of Thebes.
Juno, jealous of Semele, convinced the pregnant young woman
to askthe god to reveal himself in all his splendor.
Semele was then reduced to ashes by Jupiter’s thunderbolts
who saved the child by concealing him in his thigh.
After his birth, Mercurybrought the young Bacchus
to the nymphs of Nysa, who hid him in their cave
and nourished himwith milk, a drink soon replaced by wine
from the vine that concealed the entrance to theirhiding place.
He became the god of the Vine, Wine, and Festivities,
but also of Dance,Vegetation,
the Pleasures of Life, and its excesses.