Attic black-figure kylix

Wheel-made Attic black-figure kylix on red background with a stemmed base, a deep bowl, and pair of opposing horizontal handles. This type of kylix is also called an “eye-cup” for its characteristic double-eye decoration. It was used for drinking wine; the eyes were possibly apotropaic, serving to ward off the bad effects of drinking too much, but also functioned like a mask when a drinker held the cup up to his lips. The interior shows a thin rim left in red and a simple medallion with an eye at the centre on a black background; externally on the shallow body of the cup, a pair of two big eyes in black, with a white ring round the pupil; at their centre, a reclined naked Satyr (a) and a draped bearded man (b) on each side facing left, details were incised. Ground-lines indicated. Stylistic remarks: the style is remarkably similar to that of the Haimon Painter, especially in the rendering of beard, facial features, and feet. Object number: 127.007. Date: 500–450 BCE Parallels: very similar examples London, British Museum 1836,0224.65, 1856,1226.95, 1864,1007.1701; compare with 1864,1007.1688, 1864,1007.292, 1864,1007.296, 1867,0506.35, 1877,0930.46, 1894,1101.300, 1896,0201.175, 1906,1215.4; Athens, Museum of Cycladic Art ΝΓ0702; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 44.11.1, 56.171.36, 96.18.64, 98.8.25, 96.18.65; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum 86.AE.50; Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum 33.399; Florence, Museo Archeologico Nazionale 0900246218, 0900246212, 1100071840. References: Walters, H B., Forsdyke, E J., Smith, C. H., Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, London: BMP, 1893-1925; Beazley, J.D., Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, Oxford, 1956; True, M., and Jiri F., Greek Vases: Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection, Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1983; Pinney, G., "Eye-Cup", Revue archeologique, 1986, 1, pp. 5-20; Keck, J., Studien zur Rezeption fremder Einfluesse in der chalkidischen Keramik. Ein Betrag zur Lokalisierungsfrage, Archaeologische Studien 8, Frankfurt, 1988; Neer, R. T., "Ancient Greek Vessels between Sea, Earth and Clouds", in Brittenham, C. (ed.), Vessels. The Object as Container, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019, pp. 6-49; ; on the Haimon Painter Penelope T., “Attic White-Ground Pyxis and Phiale, ca. 450 B.C.”, Boston Museum Bulletin, vol. 67, no. 348, pp. 86 and 90; F. F. J. “Four Vases by the Haimon Painter”, Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, vol. 11, no. 1, Princeton University Art Museum, 1952, pp. 5–9. Photo by Steve Morton