Works of Art
Attic White Ground Kyathos
Period: End of the 6th century B.C.
Culture: Geometric to Archaic, Greek World
Category: Array
Dimensions: Height: 16.4cm, Diameter: 11.5cm
Price: SOLD
Provenance: Ex-Castle Ashby collection, U.K.
Condition: The vase is practically whole, but the entire front part has been reassembled from numerous fragments. Some small restorations are visible. In the publications where this kyathos appears, it is said that the handle is modern. The surface was carefully cleaned and the paint is in an excellent state of preservation; the fabric is very fine and the shaping of the vase, traces of which one can see on the interior was executed in a regular and precise manner.
Description
This delicate vessel is decorated with two sphinxes, a pair of eyes, a pair of male gods, Dionysus and Hermes represented standing and appear to be talking.
The potter’s mastery of his technique is first rate and worthy of the great Archaic and Classical Attic ceramic tradition. The style of the decoration (drawn and incised) is of very high quality, despite the fact that certain details were executed a bit hastily. The end of the 6th century was a period when Attic ceramics were very popular: to keep up with the demand for them, the workshops had no other option but to repeat known themes, sometimes in a mechanical manner. This tendency is understandable for the small vases such as funerary lekythoi, but it is also sometimes seen on amphorae, hydriai, pitchers, etc.
Ali Aboutaam, Hicham Aboutaam
Bibliography
Published:
- BOARDMAN J.– ROBINSON M., CVA Castle Ashby, 1979, pl. 25, 3-4.
Parallels:
For works from this group, see:
- BEAZLEY, J.D., Attic Black Figure Vase Painters, 1956, p. 610-14.
For another kyathoi from the same period, see:
- BOARDMAN J.– ROBINSON M., CVA Castle Ashby, 1979, pl. 25, 3-4.