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"Bilingual" Eye-Cup with Centaur and Athletes

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"Bilingual" Eye-Cup with Centaur and Athletes

Place of OriginGreece, Attica
Dateabout 520 BCE
Dimensions4 1/2 × 16 1/8 × 12 7/8 × 4 3/4 in. (11.4 × 41 × 32.7 × 12.1 cm)
MediumWheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware , decorated in black-figure on the interior and red-figure on the exterior.
ClassificationCeramics
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1963.28
On View
Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic
DescriptionA shallow drinking cup with a broad bowl and two horizontal handles. The interior depicts a centaur in black-figure, balancing a boulder, with the inscription HO PAIS KALOS (ὁ παῖς καλός, “the boy is beautiful”) written nearby. The exterior shows red-figure scenes: on one side, a nude victorious athlete crowned with a wreath and holding branches; on the other, a youth in a mantle stooping to mark the ground with a stick. Framed by large stylized eyes and multi-frond palmettes.
Label TextThis cup marks a pivotal moment in Greek art when vase painters shifted from black-figure to red-figure decoration, transforming how stories were told in clay. Around 520 BCE, Athenian workshops began experimenting with these two techniques side by side. Inside the cup, the centaur is painted in the older black-figure style, where details are scratched into a glossy surface. On the outside, the scenes of an athlete and a youth marking the earth use the newer red-figure technique, allowing for more natural poses and subtler details. This blend of styles, known as “bilingual,” reflects both technical innovation and a marketplace in transition. The Bowdoin Eye Painter, who made this cup, was among the first artists to explore this balance of old and new. The large painted eyes on the cup held different meanings depending on the context. In Athens, such eye-cups were likely used at symposia, social gatherings where drinking and conversation took place. There, the eyes may have had a playful function, making the drinker’s face resemble a mask when the cup was raised. However, most of these cups have been found in Etruscan tombs in central Italy. For the Etruscans, they were probably valued as grave offerings. The eyes may have been understood as protective symbols or reminders of banquet scenes associated with the afterlife, showing how Greek objects were reinterpreted in other cultures.Published ReferencesBeazley, John D., Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, Oxford, 2nd ed., 1963, p. 1630, no. 3 bis. and p. 1621, no. 109 bis.

"Note from Paris, Drawing in Greek Art," Apollo, vol. 78, no. 17, July 1963, p. 59, no. 4.

Münzen and Medaillen A,G., Auktion XXVI. Kunstwerke der Antike. Basel. 5 Oct. 1963, pp. 65-66, lot no. 124.

Wittmann, Otto, "Treasures at Toledo, Ohio," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, 1967, p. 425-427, and fig. 10-12.

Meissengruber, Franz, "Zur wertung dis Romischen Klassizismus," Antike Kunst, vol. 10, no. 1, 1967, p. 48, pl. 14,1.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "Greek Vases," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 11, no. 2, 1968, p. 39.

Beazley, John D., Paralipomena, Oxford, 1971, p. 337.

Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts: Athenische Abteilung, vol. 86, 1971, p. 43.

Schauenburg, K., "Herakles Bei Pholos Zu Zwei Frührotfigurigen Schalen," Athenische Mitteilung, vol. 86, 1971, p. 43, note 7.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, U.S.A. Fasc. 17, Toledo, 1976, p. 30-31, repr. pl. 47 and 49,1, profile drawing fig. 9.

Touchefer-Meynier, Odette, Le dessin dans l'art grec, Paris, Galerie G. Maspero, 1963, p. 14.

Cohen, Beth, Attic Bilingual Vases and Their Painters, New York, 1978, p. 482 (no. B112) and pp. 483-484.

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC), Zürich, 1981-1999, vol. VIII, p. 674, no. 12, repr. vol. VIII, p. 416.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Treasures for Toledo, Dec. 1964-Jan. 1965.

Chicago, Art Institute, Greek Vase-Painting in Midwestern Collections, 1979-1980, no. 58, p. 100-101, repr.

Tampa Museum of Art, Ceramics & Society: making and marketing ancient Greek pottery, 1994, no. 21, p. 42, repr.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Schefold, K., Griechische Kunst als religioses Phanomen, Hamburg, 1959, p. 24.

Drinking Cup (Kylix) with Heracles and Telamon
The Euergides Painter
about 515 BCE
Storage Vessel with Herakles Fighting Acheloos and Europa on a Bull
The Acheloos Painter, Leagros Group
about 510-500 BCE
Volute Krater with Dionysus and Ariadne
Creusa Painter
about 400-380 BCE
Volute Krater with Funerary Scenes
The Baltimore Painter
about 330-320 BCE
Stemless Kylix with the Escape of Odysseus
Class of the Top-band stemlesses
about 540-530 BCE
Hydria with Chariot Scene
The Leagros Group, Painter S
about 510 BCE
Lekythos with Achilles Ambushing Polyxena
The Athena Painter
500-490 BCE

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