Eye-cup is the term describing a specific cup type in

ancient Greek pottery Ancient Greek pottery, due to its relative durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece, and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum), it has exe ...

, distinguished by pairs of eyes painted on the external surface.

Description

Classified as '' kylikes'' in terms of shape, eye-cups were especially widespread in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Chalkis Chalcis ( ; Ancient Greek & Katharevousa: , ) or Chalkida, also spelled Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief town of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...

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. The eyes are assumed to have served an

apotropaic Apotropaic magic (from Greek "to ward off") or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superst ...

(evil-averting) function.

Types

Eye-cups were painted by various painters, mostly in the

black-figure style Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of Ancient Greek vase painting, painting on pottery of ancient Greece, antique Greek vases. It was especially common bet ...

, 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 Exekias ( grc, Ἐξηκίας, ''Exēkías'') was an ancient Greek vase painter and potter who was active in Athens between roughly 545 BC and 530 BC. Exekias worked mainly in the black-figure technique, which involved the painting of scen ...

. His eye-cup in Munich, dated 530–540 BC, is considered a masterpiece of the type. It depicts

Dionysos In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

, lying in a symposiast posture on a ship. His divine nature is indicated by his attributem, a vine, growing from the mast.

Painters or groups

Other well-known examples of eye-cups are by the following painters or groups: *

Amasis Painter The Amasis Painter (active around 550–510 BC in Athens) was an ancient Greek vase painter who worked in the black-figure technique. He owes his name to the signature of the potter Amasis ("Amasis made me"), who signed twelve works painted by t ...

; he painted several eye-cups of a variant shape with non-carinated profile (Type B) John Boardman, Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen, Übers. v. Florian Felten, Mainz 1977, , p. 118 * Andokides *

Antiphon Painter The Antiphon Painter was an Athenian vase painter of the early 5th century BC. He owes his name to a double Kalos inscription of Antiphon on the dinos stand in the Antique collection of Berlin (Inventory number F 2325). He was active between 500 ...

Epiktetos Epiktetos was an Attic vase painter in the early red-figure style. Besides Oltos, he was the most important painter of the Pioneer Group. He was active between 520 BC and 490 BC. His name translates as "newly acquired", which is most probably a ...

: bilingual eye-cups John Boardman, Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen, Übers. v. Florian Felten, Mainz 1977, , p. 124 * Ghost Painter * Painter of Nicosia Olpe * Hischylos * Krokotos Group * Leafless Group; they continued the basic eye-cup shape with later variants, often lacking the large pair of eyes * Lydos Group *

Lysippides Painter The Lysippides Painter was an Attic vase painter in the black-figure style. He was active around 530 to 510 BC. His conventional name comes from a kalos inscription on a vase in the British Museum attributed to him; his real name is not known. ...

Mastos Painter The Mastos Painter ('' fl.'' mid-6th century BC) was a painter of ancient Greek vases. He is named for a black-figure '' mastos'' used by the art historian John Boardman to illustrate the type, which is shaped like a woman's breast (Greek ''mast ...

Nikosthenes Nikosthenes was a potter of Greek black- and red-figure pottery in the time window 550–510 BC. He signed as the potter on over 120 black-figure vases, but only nine red-figure. Most of his vases were painted by someone else, called Painter ...

Oltos Oltos was a Late Archaic Greek vase painter, active in Athens from 525 BC to 500 BC. About 150 works by him are known. Two pieces, a cup in Berlin ( Antikensammlung F 2264) and a cup in Tarquinia (Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese RC 6848), are sign ...

: bilinguals * Pheidippos: bilinguals * Skythes: bilinguals * Group of Walters 48.42, specialising in frontal views of masks of Dionysos, and of

satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, :wikt:σάτυρος, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, :wikt:Σειληνός, σειληνός ), is a male List of nature deities, nature spirit with ears ...

s and

maenad In Greek mythology, maenads (; grc, μαινάδες ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Maenads were known as Bassarids, ...

s between the eyes, and gorgoneia on the cup interior A special type is the Chalkidian style of cup, of which further variants exist.

History

Dating is often difficult, but the majority of eye-cups were probably produced between 540 and 500 BC, perhaps up to 480 BC. They were also exported to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in large quantities. The majority of vases of this type were found as grave goods in

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities ** Etrusca ...

chamber tombs.

References

Bibliography

Corpus vasorum antiquorum Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum ("corpus of ancient vases"; abbreviated CVA) is an international research project for documentation of ancient ceramics. Its original ideal target content: any ceramic from any ancient location during any archaeological ...

. Deutschland. Hrsg. Komm. f. d. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum b. d. Bay. Akad. d. Wiss. /Union Académique Internationale.Bd 77: München, Antikensammlung Band 13. Attische Augenschalen. Bearb. Fellmann, Berthold. 2004. * Friedrich Wilhelm Handorf, in: Klaus Vierneisel, Bert Kaeser (eds.), Kunst der Schale - Kultur des Trinkens, München 1990, p. 418 f. *Norbert Kunisch: ''Die Augen der Augenschalen'', in: Antike Kunst 33 1990

External links

Kylix: eye–cup (drinking cup), ca. 530 b.c.; black–figure Greek. Obverse and reverse, between eyes: Theseus and the Minotaur
at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Athenian eyecups of the Late Archaic Period by Andrew Prentice

Raimund Wünsche, „Trinken aus den Augen“ - Griechische Augenschalen, aviso 2005,/4

a clip showing how these vases were resembling to a mask
{{Greek drinking cups Ancient Greek pot shapes