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A two-handled bowl seen from below which is decorated with two large eyes.

A red bowl decorated with two large white eyes, with black used to indicate the eyebrows, nose and the iris of the eye. There is also a teardrop shape on the forehead between the eyebrows. On either side of the eyes are black nude figures with their arms and legs bent as if they are dancing. Past those nude figures there are two looped handles which are also painted black. The bowl has a fluted stem and a flat base, and the stem is hollow, opening up a round hole in the base.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1925.30.19
Title
Eye Cup
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 530 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Archaic period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/292633

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3610, University Teaching Gallery
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Black-figure
Dimensions
11.7 x 23 cm (4 5/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
with handles: 11.7 x diam. 30.2 cm (4 5/8 x 11 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Joseph Clark Hoppin, Purchased in Athens, 1897, Bequest to Fogg Art Museum, 1925.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Beazley Archive Database #13318

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Joseph C. Hoppin
Accession Year
1925
Object Number
1925.30.19
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Interior: Gorgoneion, drawn in outline, with irises and lips in added white, the tongue and hair in added red; Exterior: Quadripartite with two eye-areas and two handle-areas. In between each set of large eyes is a rudimentary nose. Between the eyebrows is a teardrop-shaped mark flanked by dots; another dot above the nose. The irises are painted white. Nude komasts flank each pair of eyes near the handles. All but one are beardless and all have red hair. Beneath each handle is an inverted lotus bud with dots. A rounded fillet separates the bowl of the kylix from its pedestalled foot. Condition: One piece of rim broken off and repaired; otherwise intact.

Publication History

  • Joseph Clark Hoppin and Albert Gallatin, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, U.S.A.: volume 1, Hoppin and Gallatin Collections, Libraire Ancienne Edouard Champion (Paris, 1926), p. 5, pl. 4-6
  • Andrew Rasanen, "Black Figure Eye Cups" (Unpublished, Harvard University, 1983)
  • Kathleen Christian, "A Black Figure Eye Cup in the Hoppin Collection" (Unpublished, Harvard University, 1996)
  • Stephen R. Wilk, Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, Oxford University Press (UK) (Oxford, NY, 2000), p. 32, fig. 3.3; p. 177, fig. 9.13
  • Richard Neer, Style and Politics in Athenian Vase-painting: The Craft of Democracy, ca. 530-460 B.C.E. (Cambridge, 2002), fig. 11, pg. 41
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World: Feasting with Gods, Heroes, and Kings, exh. cat. (Cambridge, MA, 2018), pp. 210-211, fig. 5.13; p. 356, cat. 18

Exhibition History

Related Media

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu