Attic Black-Figure Kylix (Drinking Cup) with Animals

Archaic
About 550 BCE - 530 BCE

3 7/16 x 5 1/2 x 6 11/16 in. (8.8 x 14 x 17 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Archaic - Refers to the pottery style found in Persia around 6000 BCE. The style is characterized by fine, plain buff pottery tempered with straw that is sometimes decorated with simple red or orange painted designs.
• Attic - Style and culture of the region of Attica. For culture particular to the capital of Attica, Athens, use "Athenian."
• Black-figure - Refers to a style of Greek vase painting that developed from the Geometric and Orientalizing styles. It appeared in Corinth around 720 BCE, flourished in Attica by 600 BCE, and was found in Sparta, eastern Greece, and elsewhere, until the Red-figure style gradually replaced it in the late sixth century BCE. The style is characterized by a particular technique, which is characterized by the use of a refined slip, a two-stage firing process, and sintering to create black figures in silhouette on a red ground. Details were incised into the black figures or applied in purple or white pigment.
• cups - Open bowl-shaped vessels, used chiefly for drinking, often having one handle, but sometimes two handles or none, generally on a low foot-ring; also includes similar bowl-shaped vessels, generally without handles, resting on a stem and supported by a spreading foot. Occasionally made with a lid.
• inscriptions - Words, texts, lettering, or symbols marked on a work, including texts, legends, documentation notes, or commemoration. For standardized symbols or notations on objects that convey official information, use "marks (symbols)."
• kylikes - Ancient Greek drinking vessels in the form of a broad, shallow bowl set on a high foot or pedestal with two upcurving handles.
• lip cups - Kylikes with a lip which curves slightly outward and is clearly tooled off from the body. It also features a reserved bowl and black handles, stem, and foot. Figures were often painted on the lip and/or an inscription, often the potter's signature, is written in the zone between the handles.
• little master cups - Black-figure kylikes characterized by miniature decoration; generally of the 7th and early 6th centuries BCE. They also feature a slightly offset lip, a moderately deep bowl, and a very tall stem and foot. The little master cup was one of the forms to predominate in black-figure until about 540 BCE. Ther term comes from the English translation of the German word 'kleinmeister.'
• vase paintings - Refers to two-dimensional decoration applied to pottery by using paint made of metallic oxides or other pigments held in suspension in slip or another medium. The term is particularly used to refer to Ancient Greek red- and black-figure works. See also "porcelain paintings (visual works)."

This object is a member of the following portfolios: