Kantharos (drinking cup)
600-575 BCE
Description
This kantharos (cup with two vertical handles) is made of bucchero, a type of pottery fired black, and is embellished with a frieze of animals and monsters in relief. A chimera is followed by a griffin, a wild goat, horse, and sphinx. The repeating pattern was created by rolling a cylindrical stamp over the vessel’s surface before it was completely dry, a technique referred to as "rouletting". The polish and relief decoration of bucchero vessels evoke metal.
Dimensions
Overall with handles: H. 16.1 x W. 22.2 cm (6 5/16 x 8 3/4 in.) Dia. of cup: 14.7 cm (5 13/16 in.)
Provenance
John Kirtland Wright, New York, (by 1917-1969), by descent; to his daughter, Mary Wolcott Wright Toynbee, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, (1969-2014), gift; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2014.
Related Artworks
View MoreSteel
19th centuryPersianNorthern black ware of Cizhou type: light gray stoneware with dark brown glaze, the russet markings in overglaze iron oxide
12th centuryChineseGray stoneware with incised and stamped decoration and with splashes of natural ash glaze
7th-8th centuryKoreanTerracotta, red slip, polished
3rd millennium BCENear Eastern
Ceramic
20th centuryAmericanTerracotta, black glaze
4th century BCEGreekPewter
20th centurySwedishSilver
17th-19th centuryFrenchEnameled porcelain, possible "kinrande" type: porcelain with decoration painted in overglaze red, green, and yellow enamels, and traces of gold enamel
16th centuryChineseGray stoneware with incised, combed, and openwork decoration. Reportedly recovered in Naenam-myŏn, Kyŏngju-gun, south of Kyŏngju City, North Kyŏngsang province.
5th-6th centuryKoreanTerracotta
2nd millennium BCEHurrian