The Great Dish from the Mildenhall treasure

The most famous object in the Mildenhall treasure is the large, highly decorated circular platter usually known as the Great Dish or Oceanus Dish. The Mildenhall treasure is one of the most important collections of late-Roman silver tableware from the Roman Empire. It was found in Suffolk, eastern England, in January 1942 or '43.

The fine decoration on the dish is worked in low relief and engraved line on the front surface of the silver. The subject matter alludes to the worship and mythology of Bacchus on land and in the sea. The staring face in the centre represents Oceanus (god of the sea) with dolphins in his hair and a beard formed of seaweed fronds. The inner circle, bordered by scallop shells, consists of sea nymphs riding mythical marine creatures, a seahorse, a triton, a sea stag and a ketos, a dragon-like sea monster. The wide outer frieze features Bacchus (god of wine) holding a bunch of grapes and a thyrsus and resting a foot on his panther. He leads a celebration of music, dancing and drinking in his honour. The participants include the hero Hercules, overcome by the consumption of wine, the goat-legged god Pan, and various satyrs (male attendants) and maenads (female devotees of Bacchus).

Bacchic imagery had a long history in Greek and Roman art, and this example, on a magnificent silver vessel, is one of the finest to survive from the late-Roman period.