VII.9.28 Pompeii. Shop. Excavated 1822.

Via degli Augustali Pompeii, south side. December 2018.

VII.9.28, looking south-east towards entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VII.9.28 Pompeii. December 2007. Entrance doorway, looking west.

VII.9.28 Pompeii. December 2007. Pillar on left of entrance, (east side). 

This used to have a painting of Mercury with his purse and caduceus.

According to Boyce, on one of the pilasters of this workshop was a painting of Mercury.

At his feet was an omphalos with a serpent coiled around it.

See Fiorelli, G., 1875. Descrizione di Pompei. Napoli, p. 267.

See Boyce G. K., 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii. Rome: MAAR 14. (p.111, no.18) 

VII.9.28 Pompeii. December 2007. Pillar on right of entrance, (west side).

According to Gell –

…………Near this (VII.4.32), in a house (VII.9.28), is the picture of a graceful young Bacchus expressing the juice of the grape into a vase placed on a column. A rampant Tiger or Lynx (?Panther) is expecting the liquor……..

See Gell, W, 1832. Pompeiana: Vol 1. London: Jennings and Chaplin, (p.11 and 12).

According to PAH – 7th Luglio 1822 –

“On a pilaster to the right of the above-mentioned street, a gracious figure of Bacchus was found painted, in the act of pressing a bunch of grapes into a vase, at his feet was a tiger (?panther) who raised himself up, eager to taste it.  In the meantime, I have ordered that this painting be secured with a small canopy like the others, and that the usual necessary restorations of the collapsing walls of the shops discovered so far be continued.”

(……In un pilastro a destra della strada suddetta, si era scoperta dipinta una graziosa figura di Bacco in atto di premere un grappolo di uva dentro un vase, ed una tigre a' suoi piedi che si alza desiderosa di gustarla. Io ho disposto intanto, che venga cautelata questa dipintura con piccola tettoia come le altre, e che si continuino le solite necessarie restaurazioni de’ muri crollanti delle botteghe sinora scoperte.)

See PAH II, 7th July 1822, p. 55-56.

A Pompeian wine-seller who did his business in that street, where is now the entrance to the building vulgarly called Pantheon, had painted on one side of his shop Mercury to make it propitious to his trade, and on the other the Bacchus we publish here as the finder of the liquor he sold.

According to RMB, we owe the painting of this Bacchus to the custom the ancients had of portraying their gods on the outside walls of their dwellings, in the same way that we are accustomed to paint the images of saints in the streets. And in Pompeii outside the shops and houses were found painted sometimes Mercury, sometimes Isis, sometimes Mars, and also brought together in a single painting all twelve major deities. A Pompeian wine-seller who traded in that street, where the entrance to the building vulgarly called Pantheon is now, had painted on one side of his shop Mercury to make it propitious for his trade, and on the other Bacchus that we publish here as the promoter of the liquor he sold.  With a thyrsus on his shoulder, crowned with ivy, and without any clothing other than a small celestial chlamys, which descends from his neck to the back of his legs, we see him leaning on one elbow against a pillar, squeezing with both hands a bunch of grapes into his two-handled crater. A panther, the usual companion of that god, greedy for that sweet juice, with its mouth wide open, rises up on its back legs, leaning on the pillar like an animal in need of food near a table. This painting, which is two ounces high and one ounce wide, is singularly curious because of the use it reminds us of, and is of poor execution, although composed with great grace.

See Real Museo Borbonico, Vol. III, 1827, Tav. 50,1.

According to Frohlich -

F55 Pompeii VII 9 or VII 12. North facade Left and right of the entrance to an unknown building. Abb. 11. Now destroyed.

From: A drawing in Museo Borbonico III, here used as our illustration, showing the picture of Bacchus.

Lit: PAH II 4,55; Museo Borbonico III plate 50.1; Helbig No. 25; Reinach, RP 107.8; Boyce p. 111 No. 19; Schefold, WP 197.

The picture of one of the two entrance pillars showed Bacchus in three-quarter view, naked except for sandals and a blue cloak that hangs down behind the back, crowned, his legs crossed, with his right elbow leaning on a pillar on his right, the thyrsus leaning on the left shoulder. Bacchus squeezes out a grape with both hands over a kantharos, which stands on a lower step of the stepped pillar and to which a small panther tries to jump up. In the background on the right is a bush.

Mercury was depicted on the other pillar.

See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern, (F55).

According to Helbig –

25. Pompeii. Wall on the south side of the Strada degli Augustali (XXII or XXIII) +. · Bacchus, wreathed with ivy (1), with sandals, a blue chlamys over the back, stands there, the thyrsus leaning on the left shoulder, and presses a grape into a vessel standing on a pillar in front of him. The panther leaps up at him. Opposite was Mercury +. –

M. B. III 50 p. 1, G. I p. 191, FIORELLI P.A.H p. 55 (July 7, 1822).

(1) wreath missing G.

See Helbig, W., 1868. Wandgemälde der vom Vesuv verschütteten Städte Campaniens. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, (no.25).

VII.9.28 Pompeii. December 2005. Looking south-west across workshop towards rear room, with window.

VII.9.28 Pompeii. December 2005. Looking south, on the left is a masonry counter with 3 urns against the east wall. 

At the rear of the counter is a water basin and doorway to the rear room with a window in its north wall, on the right.

VII.9.28 Pompeii. May 2003. Looking south across threshold/sill. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.

VII.9.28 Pompeii. May 2003. Three terracotta urns set in a masonry counter near the east wall. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.

VII.9.28 Pompeii. December 2018. Looking north to front, from niche at rear on east wall. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VII.9.28 Pompeii. December 2018. Niche in east wall. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VII.9.28 Pompeii. May 2003.

Water basin at the rear of the masonry counter near the east wall. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.