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 KX Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter. He was active between 585 and 570 BC. Besides the KY Painter, the KX Painter was the main representative of the Comast Group, which succeeded the Gorgon Painter. His conventional name was allocated by John Beazley. He is considered the better and chronologically somewhat earlier representative of the group. He was the first painter in Athens to occasionally depict komasts on his vases, a motif adopted from Corinthian vase painting. He mainly painted skyphoi, lekanes, kothones and Komast cups. In contrast to later representatives of the group, he still mostly painted animals, in a more careful and powerful style than the Gorgon Painter. Some mythological scenes by him are also known. Especially famous are his small-fornat mythical scenes placed within animal friezes. The KX Painter can be considered the first Attic painter to achieve a quality at par with that reached in Corinth, then the dominant centre of Greek vase painting. Imitations of his works are known from Boeotia.
The Panther Painter was a vase painter of the Attic black-figure style. He was probably active at the same time as the Nessos Painter, or shortly thereafter. Both shared a predilection for interlace patterns. The Panther Painter's vases have so far only been found in Attica, but outside Athens, at Vari. It is therefore assumed that he did not live and work in Athens, but only produced for a small local market in Attica. He mainly painted lekanis with animal friezes.
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 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 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 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 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 Madrid Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter active during the late period of the style, around 520 BC.
The Edinburgh Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active around 500 BC. His speciality was white-ground lekythoi painted in the black-figure style.
The Dionysus Cup is the modern name for one of the best known works of ancient Greek vase painting, a kylix dating to 540–530 BC. It is one of the masterpieces of the Attic black-figure potter Exekias and one of the most significant works in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen in Munich.
