“Aristotle and Phyllis” is based on a tale according to which the beautiful Phyllis outwitted and exposed the philosopher Aristotle out of revenge. Aristotle had demanded virtue from his prot\u00e9g\u00e9, the Macedonian prince Alexander, and forbade him to meet his beloved Phyllis. However, Aristotle himself fell victim to the seductive charms of the young beauty and became a laughingstock at the entire court as a lustful old man. In the figurine Powolny captures the moment when the love-struck old man allows himself to be mounted like a horse by Phyllis, thus exposing himself to ridicule.
\nThe statuette\u2019s design dates back to 1910, to Powolny’s Secessionist period, and was artfully manufactured at his own workshop, the Wiener Keramik.
\nOn this piece Powolny displays all his virtuosity. Phyllis\u2019s finely designed nude with her rhythmically arranged hair and the drapery on the old man’s robe impressively demonstrate Powolny\u2019s tremendous skills. Other details as well enthuse, such as detailed drawing of Aristotle\u2019s head, standing out almost naturalistically from the idealized face of Phyllis. A \u201csignature\u201d element is the garland of stylized flower forming the reins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ceramic figurine “Aristotle and Phyllis”, design Michael Powolny, manufactured by Wiener Keramik, ca. 1910, pale earthenware colorfuly glazed, marked<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28745,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[386],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28762","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-art-nouveau","8":"first","9":"outofstock","10":"shipping-taxable","11":"purchasable","12":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n