Terracotta fragment of a kylix (drinking cup)

Art Historical Context

This exquisite terracotta fragment from a kylix, or shallow drinking cup, comes from the hand of the Euergides Painter, a masterful Attic artist active around 510– BCE during Greece's Archaic period. Crafted in the black-figure technique—where figures were painted in glossy black slip and details incised before firing—this piece exemplifies the pinnacle of late Archaic vase painting. The kylix form was a staple of elite Greek symposia, intimate gatherings where men reclined, drank wine, and engaged in philosophical discourse, poetry, and revelry. As one of the last great practitioners of blac...