Drunken Vase
Cammie Staros, American, born 1983
2024
Ceramic, pebbles, and shells
Overall: 26 1/2 × 13 × 14 in. (67.3 × 33 × 35.6 cm)
Support: 17 5/16 × 8 1/2 × 8 1/2 in. (44 × 21.6 × 21.6 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund
© Cammie Staros
2024.43
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Sculpture
Research Area
Sculpture
On view
Label
With its sinuously weaving handles, bulbous body, and precarious tilt, this vessel becomes an anthropomorphized visualization of what would happen if an amphora were to ingest the wine it held inside. The satyrs, young men, and maidens with their cups and grape vines seem to shift and stumble across the shoulder of the vessel, unmoored by drink and the wobbly surface of the ceramic itself.
Both the vase and the pedestal are inspired by Classical Greece. While forming the pedestal, Staros embedded pebbles into the ceramic surface, some of which were lost in the kiln-firing process. The resulting holes reference the practices of lawful and illicit excavation and the ways in which looting or amateur archaeology results in gaps in our knowledge of antiquities and their contexts.
From the exhibition Stone, Sand, and Clay: Connecting Cultures in the Ancient Mediterranean, curated by Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections
Course History
History 10.02, Archival Research, Julia Rabig, Summer 2025
Anthropology 31.01, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 36.01, Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives, Sabrina Billings, Fall 2025
Theater 15.01, Theatre & Society I, Samantha Lazar, Fall 2025
Exhibition History
Stone, Sand, and Clay: Connecting Cultures in the Ancient Mediterranean, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 7, 2025 - Ongoing
Provenance
The artist, Cammie Staros, 2024; to Nazarian / Curcio, Los Angeles, California, 2024; sold to present collection, 2024.
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