Terracotta rim fragments of a kylix (drinking cup)
Unknown Artist
500–480 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
2011.604.1.6343a, b
Art Historical Context
These delicate terracotta rim fragments from kylix, or shallow drinking cup, hail from Attic Greece during the late Archaic period500–480 BCE). Crafted in the vibrant hub of ancient Athens, kylikes like this were essential to symposia—lively social gatherings where elite men reclined, shared wine, and debated philosophy poetry. Though only fragments survive, they evoke the everyday elegance of Greek life, where pottery was both functional and finely artistic. Attic vase painters of this era mastered terracotta techniques, firing clay to a warm red hue and often applying black-glaze slips for ...