Decorated in a lively red-figure scene, this Apulian vase was used as a storage and pouring vessel for liquids like wine and water. The scene here is of a seated woman, to the right, holding a cask in her left hand, extending it to a nude youth to her left. The youth, whose hair is pulled back by a fillet in added white, is turned to take the cask from the woman. Between the man and woman is a deer, running to the left. At the man’s shoulder is a small vase (resembling the chous itself in its profile). Above the scene is a lovely decorative grape vine. The elements of the iconography (the vine, the chous and the deer) may imply that the subject of the vase is Dionysian as all these motifs are associated with the god and his followers.

The shape, a chous, is a type of oinochoe (literally: wine pourer), distinguishable for its smooth, squat profile, and trefoil lip. The chous was probably used in the Athenian festival of Anthesteria (a Dionysian festival) during which newly-opened wine was drunk.

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