Terracotta fragment of a kylix (drinking cup)
Unknown Artist
late 6th century BCE/early 5th century BCE
Medium
Terracotta
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, Distinguished Research Curator, Greek and Roman Art, 2011
Accession Number
2011.604.1.8122
Art Historical Context
This terracotta fragment from a kylix, or shallow drinking cup, hails from Attic Greece during the late Archaic period (late 6th to early 5th century). Crafted in the vibrant hub of ancient Athens, such vases were everyday essentials transformed into canvases for artistry. Though only a piece survives, it evokes the refined pottery traditions of the time, when Attic workshops pioneered techniques like black-figure and emerging red-figure painting to depict gods, heroes, and symposia scenes. Kylikes played a starring role in Greek social life, passed hand-to-hand at all-male drinking parties w...