Terracotta rim 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
2011.604.1.1746
Art Historical Context
This delicate terracotta rim fragment from kylix, or shallow drinking cup, hails from Attic Greece in the second quarter of the 5 century BCE, during the height of the Classical period. Crafted in the bustling pottery workshops of Athens, kylikes like this were essential to symposia—lively social gatherings where elite men reclined, drank wine mixed with water, and engaged in philosophical debates, poetry, and revelry. Though only a fragment survives, it evokes the refined elegance of everyday ancient life amid Athens' golden age under Pericles. Attic vases represent the pinnacle of ancient G...