Terracotta fragment of a kylix (drinking cup)
490–480 BCE
Medium
Terracotta
Classification
Vases
Culture & Period
Greek, Attic · Late Archaic
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
2011.604.1.6847
Art Historical Context
This delicate terracotta fragment from a kylix, or shallow drinking cup, hails from Attic Greece around 490–480 BCE, during the Late Archaic. Attributed to the Painter of the Paris Gigantom—an anonymous master named after a vase in Paris depicting the epic battle between gods and giants—it exemplifies the pinnacle of red-figure pottery In this innovative technique, artists painted figures in the natural red clay and incised details with black slip, allowing unprecedented freedom for anatomical precision and dynamic poses compared to earlier black-figure styles. Kylikes like this were essentia...