Cup Decorated With A Garland Of Leaves

NotesThis cup, slightly smaller than the average size, is remarkable both for its technical and aesthetic qualities, which refer to the great tradition of Attic pottery in the 6th century B.C.

The body is hemispherical and the rim is slightly flared; the two handles are thin and almost horizontal. The kylix is supported by an elegant and high trumpet-shaped foot.

The decoration was painted in black only: the foot, the rim and the inside of the vessel (except for a reserved medallion) are entirely black-glazed. The outside of the bowl is adorned with three friezes separated by rows of concentric fillets: the area of the handles is ornamented with a garland of leaves, and the middle of the vessel with an S-shaped stylized pattern, while thin and pointed rays adorn the frieze just above the foot. A white line delineates the friezes of the black-glazed area of the foot.

The shape and the decorative structure recall a simplified version of the Droop-cups (after the name of the first scholar who collected some of them in the early last century), though there is no animal frieze near the foot in this example and the garland of leaves looks very different from the lotus flowers generally painted on Droop-cups.

Complete and in excellent condition; some reglued fragments and minor gap-fills.