抖阴旅行射

Catalogue Entry听

This vase is one of听a collection of Greek vases听held by the 抖阴旅行射 Art Museum.

Gift to 抖阴旅行射 Classics Department
Transferred to 抖阴旅行射 Museum of Natural History
听(2006)

贬别颈驳丑迟:听19.4听肠尘
Width: 19.7听cm
Depth: 12.4 cm
Date: 4th century B.C.E.
Origin: Attica (Greece)

Description: Raised vessel with small base, relatively high stem, two large, thin looped handles. Black glaze decoration with two thin orange stripes around center of stem.听

Additional photos of this vessel听show details of the rim, handles, base, and decorative elements.听

Discussion

A in ancient Greece, with a deep bowl and two distinctive high handles. The stem of the cup is often tall, as it is on this example. This cup was originally identified as Boeotian but has been reclassed as Attic.听

The shape dates听as early as the 8th century B.C.E. and may have originated in the central Greek region of Boeotia (1).听The 听辫谤辞诲耻肠别诲 听in the late 7th or early 6th century B.C.E. The shape was long-lived and the example in the 抖阴旅行射 Art Museum's collection dates to the mid-4th century B.C.E. (2). Its decoration is described as black gloss, a common decorative schema at this time (3). A thin band is inscised or scratched into the black gloss at the junction of the cup's body and its stem, revealing the orange color of the clay beneath. Two additional thin bands, relatively close together, are incised in the middle of the stem. Finally, a ring of the orange clay is visible around the outer edge of the vessel's foot. The 抖阴旅行射 kantharos has been compared with a at the Ure Museum at the University of Reading. Though the Reading cup bears figural decoration, it has a similar shape.听

There are several . The 抖阴旅行射 kantharos is identified as听a , a type characterized by a high stemmed foot; tall, straight sides; and tall handles that rise above the lip (4). On this and other Type A Kantharoi, a high step marks the transition between the vertical sides and the stem. This step corresponds to an undercut lip on the interior of the cup, which leads to the shallow, curved base on the interior of the bowl. The transition between the exterior step and the handles is smooth.听

Kantharoi were cups used to hold wine, possibly for drinking, though they could instead听have served for ritual purposes or as an offering or votive. The kantharos seems to be an attribute of Dionysus, the god of wine (5), who can be seen holding one in the tondo of an 听at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The connection between Dionysus and the kantharos was widespread and appeared in a variety of media, including on a in Asia Minor (6). Likewise, Dionysus's companions, including Satyrs and Maenads, were commonly portrayed on Greek vases holding a kantharos (7). Scenes of Dionysus, Satyrs, and Maenads revelling and often holding kantharoi听recall 听and, indeed, such scenes often appear on sympotic vessels, including kraters and kylikes. Despite this fact, however, the kantharos may not be a banqueting cup, but rather a vessel used in cult as a symbol of rebirth or of the immortality offered by wine, "removing in moments of ecstacy the burden of self-consciousness and elevating man to the rank of deity" (8). The kantharos is depicted in scenes that may be related to funerary cult, as on 听(9).听

Footnotes

1. "碍补苍迟丑补谤辞蝉,"听Perseus Encyclopedia听(), accessed 12 February 2019.听
2. Dating based on comparison to contemporary kantharoi as published by Chara Tzavella-Evjen,听Greek and Roman Vases and Statuettes from the University of Colorado Collection听(Athens: Archaiologikon Deltion, 1973):听195, pl. 99c. See also, Suzana Dimitriu, Petre Alexandrescu, and Vladimir Dumitrescu, Corpus vasorum antiquorum, Roumanie听(Bucarest: Editions de l'Acade虂mie de la Re虂publique Socialiste de Roumanie, 1965):听pl. 41, 1; M. G. Kanowski, Containers of Classical Greece: 听A Handbook of Shapes (St. Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1984): 48-51, fig 3.
3. R. M. Cook, Greek Painted Pottery (London: Routledge, 1997): 201.
4. "Type A Kantharos," Perseus Encyclopedia听(), accessed 12 February 2019.
5. George W. Elderkin, Kantharos: Studies in Dionysiac and Kindred Cult (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1924): 4.
6. Andrew J. Clark, Maya Elston, and Mary Louise Hart, Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 2002): 101.
7. "Maenades" and "Satyrs" in eds. N. G. L. Hammond and听H. H. Scullard, The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970): 636, 956.
8. Elderkin, Kantharos: Studies in Dionysiac and Kindred Cult:听2-6.
9. According to Elderkin, the kantharos suggests a libation to the dead. Elderkin explains further symbolism, including the pomegranate, snake, and other components of this relief that link it to the cult of the dead. Elderkin, Kantharos: Studies in Dionysiac and Kindred Cult: 2-6.

Reference

• Chara Tzavella-Evjen,听Greek and Roman Vases and Statuettes from the University of Colorado Collection听(Athens: Archaiologikon Deltion, 1973): 192-197.听