Fragment of a terracotta kylix (drinking cup)
ca. 520–510 BCE
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
2 1/8 × 2 1/2 × 3/16 in. (5.3 × 6.3 × 0.4 cm)
Classification
Vases
Culture & Period
Greek, Attic · Archaic
Department
Greek and Roman Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Dietrich von Bothmer, 1983
Accession Number
1983.524.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate fragment from a terracotta kylix, or shallow drinking cup, crafted by the renowned Attic potter and painter Euphronios 520–510 BCE, offers a glimpse into the Archaic Greek world. Euphronios, a pioneer of the revolutionary red-figure technique, marked a shift from the earlier black-figure style, allowing artists to depict intricate details—like the muscular legs preserved here—by leaving the clay's natural red color exposed and outlining figures in black slip. Donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in1983, this tiny shard (just over 2 inches wide) evokes the symposia, or elite ...
About the Artist
Euphronios
Euphronios was a vase painter and potter working in the red-figure technique in Athens from about 520 to 470 BCE. He signed his name on eighteen vases, six times as painter and twelve times as potter. To judge by their drawing style, the vases that he signed as potter seem to be later than those he signed as painter. In his early career Euphronios was one of a group of Athenian vase painters who h...