Photo © Israel Museum, Jerusalem, by Yoram Lehmann |
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Attic red-figure kylix by the Antiphon Painter
Athens, Greece 490 - 480 BCE Pottery H: 12.7 cm; Diam: 39.7 cm Bequest of Norbert Schimmel, New York, to American Friends of the Israel Museum Accession number: 91.71.307 |
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The decoration on this exquisite wine cup (kylix) is attributed to the Antiphon Painter, a major cup painter of the Late Archaic Period. The Antiphon Painter's style features oversized heads, curly hair with heavy, scalloped edges, a black broken line that divides the torso, muscles rendered with great delicacy in a diluted glaze, and the use of relief lines.
The festive drinking party (symposium), and the revel (komos), well-known aspects of life in Athenian male society, are illustrated. Displays of excess and exhilaration are conveyed by a dancing youth holding a staff, a drunken, bearded reveler clasping his head while vomiting, and another supporting himself precariously on his staff. Various receptacles associated with wine are depicted: an open bowl for mixing wine and water, a deep cup held by a youth, and a wine pourer.
The inscriptions read: kalos (handsome) above the staff of the vomiting man and on the krater; the word telos (the end) beside the drunken man, which seems to refer to his empty cup Publications: The Israel Museum, Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2005 Digital presentation of this object was made possible by: The Ridgefield Foundation, New York, in memory of Henry J. and Erna D. Leir |
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