Greek black-glazed stemless kylix, Campania, c.350 BC
Terracotta
Height: 5.5cm, diameter: 14.2cm, width across the handles: 19.4cm
10535
Further images
The shallow, stemless cup has thin walls, a curved step on the interior at the level of the handles, the smooth bowl set on a ring foot with moulded profile....
The shallow, stemless cup has thin walls, a curved step on the interior at the level of the handles, the smooth bowl set on a ring foot with moulded profile. A pair of thin handles jut out from low down the wall, rising above the lip and with a pronounced return at the ends. The tondo has four stamped palmettes linked by incised arches, forming a ‘cross’ in the centre of the bowl. The surface has a metallic black glaze, and the resting surface and cushioned underside are reserved and with a red wash. Intact.
This cup carries all of the characteristics of the Delicate Class of Athenian workshops, however the plain underside to the base on this example makes it clear that it is a colonial copy.
The basic form of a black glaze drinking vessel with shallow bowl, low foot and no stem comes in many varieties. The form is rare during the archaic period, when instead there was a vogue for the tall-stemmed kylix. After c.480BC the skyphos and stemless kylix rose to prominence as the most popular types of drinking cup. Indeed it was this popularity that led to large quantities of such close copies being produced in southern Italy. By the middle of the fourth century BC these too had fallen in popularity and were replaced by the kantharos.
This cup carries all of the characteristics of the Delicate Class of Athenian workshops, however the plain underside to the base on this example makes it clear that it is a colonial copy.
The basic form of a black glaze drinking vessel with shallow bowl, low foot and no stem comes in many varieties. The form is rare during the archaic period, when instead there was a vogue for the tall-stemmed kylix. After c.480BC the skyphos and stemless kylix rose to prominence as the most popular types of drinking cup. Indeed it was this popularity that led to large quantities of such close copies being produced in southern Italy. By the middle of the fourth century BC these too had fallen in popularity and were replaced by the kantharos.
Provenance
Dr and Mrs Louk van Roozendaal, the Netherlands; acquired 1980sLiterature
Compare John W. Hayes, Greek and Italian Black-gloss Wares and Related Wares in the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, 1984), pp.62-63, no.103