Kylix (Drinking Cup)

about 540-530 BCE

Greek; Athens

This is an example of the most popular type of wine cup in ancient Greece, the kylix. Rising from a round foot and a thin stem, the cup flares out to a wide bowl with two handles on opposite sides. In the decorative band around the lip of this cup, a human figure in Grecian dress is depicted in the company of a lion.

Status: On View, Gallery 151
Department: Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Kylix (Drinking Cup)
Place: Polis (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 540 BCE–530 BCE
Medium: terracotta, black-figure
Dimensions: 9.2 × 20.5 × 14.6 cm (3 5/8 × 8 1/8 × 5 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Martin A. Ryerson through The Antiquarian Society
Reference Number: 1907.10
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/87650/manifest.json

Wilhelm Froehner, Collection van Branteghem: Vases peints et terre cuites antiques (Paris, 1892), no. 14.
Joan T. Haldenstein, Little Master Cups, Studies in 6th Century Attic Black-Figure Vase Painting (University of Cincinnati PhD diss., 1982), p. 133.
Pieter Heesen, Athenian Little-Master Cups (Amsterdam: Chairebooks, 2011), p. 116 fn 690 and 192 fn 1181.

Art Institute of Chicago, Greek Vases - Form and Function, unknown start date 1986 - October 8, 1986.
Art Institute of Chicago, Human Figure in Early Greek Art, A Preview Part I, Gallery 101A, September 1, 1988 - September 24, 1989.
Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 155, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, November 11, 2012 - present.

Said to be from Arsinoe, Cyprus [according to van Branteghem catalogue, 1892]. Alphonse van Branteghem, Brussels; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 30-June 1, 1892, lot 14, to Martin A. Ryerson (1856-1932), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1907.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.