Kassel cups are 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 ...

Little-master cups Little-master cups are a type of Attic black-figure cups, produced around the middle and third quarter of the sixth century BC. Their name is based on their fine small-format decoration. Little-master cups are later in origin than Siana cups, bu ...

, produced 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 ...

around 540 to 520 BC. Kassel cups are quite similar to

Band cup Band cups are a form of ancient Greek Attic Little-master cups. The lip of a band cup is black and slightly concave. At the joint between vase body and foot, there is often a red ring. The external figural decoration is in the area of the handles ...

s, but shallower and usually rather small. The lip and body of the vase are usually decorated with simple band patterns. Normally, there are flame motifs on the lip and rays on the body. Some painters added silhouette-like figures in the handle zone. The decorations suggest a link with Siana cups. The name is derived from a piece found on

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate ...

in 1898, and on display in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

until its destruction in 1945.

Bibliography

* John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', Mainz 1977, , p. 69 * Berthold Fellmann, in: ''Kunst der Schale – Kultur des Trinkens'', München 1990, p. 23. 38 {{commons category, Kassel cups Ancient Greek pot shapes