Terracotta rim fragments of kylikes (drinking cups)
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
2011.604.1.2347a–c
Art Historical Context
These delicate terracotta rim fragments fromikes—shallow drinking cups—hail from Attic Greece in the second quarter of the5th century BCE, heart of the Classical period. Crafted by an unknown potter in Athens, the epicenter of ancient Greek ceramics, they represent everyday luxury items used in symposia, lively social gatherings where men reclined, debated philosophy, and enjoyed wine. Though only fragments survive, they evoke the refined world of Periclean Athens, a time of cultural flourishing amid the Persian Wars' aftermath and the Golden Age of democracy. Terracotta, fired clay, was the ...