The term Merrythought cup is used by scholars to describe a specific type of

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

kylix In the pottery of ancient Greece, a kylix ( , ; grc, κύλιξ, pl. κύλικες; also spelled cylix; pl.: kylikes , ) is the most common type of wine-drinking cup. It has a broad, relatively shallow, body raised on a stem from a foot ...

''. The Merrythought cup, named after the British word for "wishbone," probably developed as a refined form of a rural cup type normally made of wood. The shape features several peculiarities. It is the first Attic cup shape that lacks a distinctive break between lip and vessel body. The shape of the handles, which give the vessel its name, are in the oblong wishbone shape, with a knob shape on the curve of the handle. Rather than forming a semi-circle, as is the case in virtual all other cup shapes. Equally unusual, the handles extend beyond the height of the vessel body. The cups, mostly covered in black

slip Slip or SLIP may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole * Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting * Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy Computing and ...

, occasionally feature thin stripes of red paint on the foot or the interior. This resembles East Greek and other Attic decorative styles. The vase body is nearly hemispherical. The first Attic artist to decorate Merrythought cups 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 ...

was the

C Painter The C Painter was one of the most important Attica, Attic black-figure vase painting, black-figure vase painters. His works date to ''circa'' 575–550 BC. His conventional name was allocated by the archaeologist John Beazley. The C stands for "Cor ...

Bibliography

* John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', von Zabern, Mainz 1977 ( Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Vol 1) , p. 36. *Ramage, Nancy Hirschland. “A Merrythought Cup from Sardis.” ''American Journal of Archaeology'', vol. 87, no. 4, Archaeological Institute of America, 1983, pp. 453–60, .

References

{{Reflist Ancient Greek pot shapes