Further images
This kylix nicely demonstrates the potting and firing process of mass-produced tableware. The body was turned on a wheel as demonstrated by the lines left on the cushioned underside. The handles show finger marks, left in the damp clay when they were attached to the body. There is a slight circular indent to the interior and a semicircular indent which pushes through to the underneath, caused prior to the firing process by the weight of vases being stacked on top of it. One side is misfired, showing oxygen in the kiln had been unable to properly circulate, leaving areas of the vessel a terracotta colour rather than the desired black. Misfiring was generally caused by several vases being placed in close proximity to one another.
This cup carries all of the characteristics of the Delicate Class of Athenian workshops, except for the fact that the underside is undetailed. For this reason one can easily assign to it a South Italian origin, not Athens.
Provenance
Private collection, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; acquired end of the 19th centuryLiterature
Compare Madeleine Massoul, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Sevres IV (Paris), pl.50, no.3
As with 10535, the cushioned base is undecorated, and thus distinguishes it from the Stemless Cups of Athens, which otherwise appear to be almost identical, but which date to c.450 BC. For the Attic variant compare Florian S Knauss and Jörg Gebauer, Black is Beautiful, Griechische Glanztonkeramik (Munich, 2019), p.150, cat.no.91
For 4th-3rd century BC Apulia see John W. Hayes, Greek and Italian… pp.62-63, no.103