Terracotta fragment of a kylix (drinking cup)
Unknown Artist
second quarter of the 5th century BCE
Medium
Terracotta
Classification
Vases
Culture & Period
Greek, Attic · Classical
Department
Greek and Roman Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Dietrich von Bothmer, Distinguished Research Curator, Greek and Roman Art, 2011
Accession Number
2011.604.1.3450
Art Historical Context
This terracotta fragment from a kylix, or shallow drinking cup, hails from Attic Greece in the second quarter of the5th century BCE, the height of the Classical period. in Athens, the epicenter of ancient Greek pottery, such vessels were both everyday objects and canvases for masterful artistry. Kylikes like this one were essential for symposia—ively social gatherings where men reclined, drank wine diluted with water, and engaged in intellectual discourse, poetry, and revelry. Attic potters excelled in techniques like red-figure painting, where figures emerged in the natural red clay against ...