Table Support with Dionysos in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, October 2009

Table Support with Dionysos

Roman, Imperial period, AD 150-225
Marble (probably from the Greek island of Paros)

# 1970.241

Marble tables are among the most common form of furniture from Roman Italy. These tables have been discovered in a variety of contexts, indicating they were were used to hold offerings to the gods, support images of the household gods (called lares), or display treasured objects.

There is, however, no evidence they were used as dining tables. This support for a one-legged table (monopodium) has been carved with a figure of the youthful Dionysos, accompanied by a small panther.

Text from the MFA label.