Terracotta fragment of a kylix (drinking cup)
Unknown Artist
490–470 BCE
Medium
Terracotta
Classification
Vases
Culture & Period
Greek, Attic · Late Archaic/Early 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
2011.604.1.6703
Art Historical Context
This delicate terracotta fragment from a kylix, or shallow drinking cup, hails from Attic Greece during the Late Archaic to Early Classical period (490–470 BCE).ed in the bustling potters' quarter of Athens, kylikes like this were essential for symposia—lively social gatherings where elite men reclined, sipped diluted wine, and debated philosophy politics. Though only a piece survives, it evokes the refined everyday luxury of ancient Athenian life, a time of cultural flowering amid the Persian Wars and the dawn of democracy. Attic vases represent the pinnacle of Greek ceramic artistry, wheel-...