Eye-cup is the term describing a specific cup type in ancient Greek pottery, distinguished by pairs of eyes painted on the external surface.
Eye-cup is the term describing a specific cup type in ancient Greek pottery, distinguished by pairs of eyes painted on the external surface.
Classified as kylikes in terms of shape, eye-cups were especially widespread in Athens and Chalkis in the second half of the sixth century BC. The bowl of the eye-cup rests on a short squat foot; both sides are dominated by large painted pairs of eyes under arched eyebrows. The eyeballs are painted in silhouette style, later often filled with white paint or painted white on black. Some eyes are "female", i.e. almond-shaped and without tear-ducts. Often, a stylized nose is placed centrally between the eyes.
While used as a drinking vessel, due to the necessary inclination of the vessel, the cup with its painted eyes, the handles looking like ears and the base of the foot like a mouth, would have resembled a mask. Many of the vases also bear dionysiac imagery. [1] The eyes are assumed to have served an apotropaic (evil-averting) function. [2] [3]
Eye-cups were painted by various painters, mostly in the black-figure style, but later also in the red-figure style. The earliest bilingually painted vases, those with both styles, include specimens of eye-cups with a black-figure interior and a red-figure exterior.
The introduction of this bilingual type and its specific decoration into Attic vase painting is attributed to Exekias. His eye-cup in Munich, dated 530–540 BC, is considered a masterpiece of the type. It depicts Dionysos, lying in a symposiast posture on a ship. His divine nature is indicated by his attributem, a vine, growing from the mast.
Other well-known examples of eye-cups are by the following painters or groups:
A special type is the Chalkidian style of cup, of which further variants exist. [7]
Dating is often difficult, but the majority of eye-cups were probably produced between 540 and 500 BC, perhaps up to 480 BC. [8] They were also exported to Italy in large quantities. The majority of vases of this type were found as grave goods in Etruscan chamber tombs.
The Affecter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active in Athens around 550 to 530 BCE.
The N Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter of the third quarter of the 6th century BC. His real name remains unknown.
The Bellerophon Painter was one of the first Attic black-figure vase painters. His period of activity is dated between 630 and 600 BC.
The Anagyros Painter or Anagyrus Painter was a vase painter of the early Attic black-figure style, active in the first quarter of the 6th century BC. His works have only been found in inland Attica, mainly at Vari, but not in Athens itself. It is thus assumed that he was not active within the city and only produced for a very limited rural area. In contrast to many of his contemporaries, he did not paint lekanes but various large formats, such as amphorae, kantharoi, chalices, oinochoai and plates.
The Ptoon Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter of black-figure style active in Athens in the middle third of the 6th century BC. His real name is unknown.
The Goltyr Painter was an Attic vase painter of the black-figure style. He was active in the second quarter of the sixth century BC. He is well known for his work on Tyrrhenian amphorae. He mostly painted animals, often with rather bulbous heads.
Group E was a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style. They were active between 560 and 540 BC.
Droop cups are a type of Little-master cup in the pottery of ancient Greece, produced about 550 to 510 BC, probably mostly in Laconia. A few examples date to the fifth century BC. They are named after John Percival Droop, an English archaeologist, who first recognised the type.
Kassel cups are a specific type of Attic Little-master cups, produced in Athens around 540 to 520 BC. Kassel cups are quite similar to Band cups, but shallower and usually rather small. The lip and body of the vase are usually decorated with simple band patterns. Normally, there are flame motifs on the lip and rays on the body. Some painters added silhouette-like figures in the handle zone. The decorations suggest a link with Siana cups. The name is derived from a piece found on Samos in 1898, and on display in Kassel until its destruction in 1945.
The Xenokles Painter was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style, active around the middle of the 6th century BC. His real name is unknown. His conventional name is based on the fact that he often painted vases made by the potter Xenokles, with whom he may be identical. In artistic terms, he did not reach the talent of comparable painters, such as the Tleson Painter. Characteristic of his work is his habit of cramming lip cups with figures, comparable to the normal decoration of Siana cups.
The Group of Rhodes 12264 is a Group of Attic black-figure vase painters, active in Athens around the middle of the 6th century BC. They belong to the so-called Little masters. The Group is named after the Droop cup inv. 12264 in the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes. They painted exclusively cups, mostly Droop cups with friezes in the handle zone.
The BMN Painter was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style, active during the third quarter of the 6th century BC.
The Chiusi Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active in the last quarter of the sixth century BC. His real name is not known.
The Daybreak Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active in the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC. His real name is not known.
The Painter of the Vatican Mourner was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active in the middle of the sixth century BC and closely connected with the artists of the E Group. His real name is not known. His name vase is in the Vatican Museum and depicts a mourning woman standing before the nude body of a dead man on a bed of straw. There is no consensus on the interpretation of the scene. Eos and Sarpedon have been suggested, as have Oinone and Paris. John Boardman describes him as a thoughtful but sometimes inprecise artist.
The Princeton Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active in the third quarter of the sixth century BC, just after Group E. His real name is not known.
The Swing Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active in the third quarter of the sixth century BC. His real name is unknown.
The Rycroft Painter was an Attic late black-figure vase painter, active in the final decade of the sixth century BC. His real name is not known.
The term Perizoma Group describes a group of Attic black-figure vase painters and a type of vase. They were active approximately 520–510 BC.
The Nikoxenos Painter was an Attic vase painter who worked in both the black-figure and red-figure styles. He was active in the end of the sixth and the beginning of the fifth centuries BC. His real name is not known.
