Kylix (Drinking Cup)

Place of OriginGreece, reportedly found in the Argolis

Date1400-1300 BCE

Dimensions8 1/8 × 9 1/8 × 6 1/4 in. (20.6 × 23.2 × 15.9 cm)
to top of handles: 7 3/4 in. (19.6 cm)
to rim: 7 11/16 in. (19.5 cm)
6 1/4 × 3 3/4 in. (16 × 9.6 cm)

MediumWheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware.

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1930.11

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionA wheel-thrown ceramic kylix (stemmed cup) with a deep, conical bowl, two vertical loop handles attached at the rim, and a tall stem terminating in a discoid foot. The clay body is buff or yellow-brown, decorated with red-brown slip. The interior of the rim and the outer surfaces of the handles are solid slipped. The primary decorative zone on the upper body features a "Multiple Stem and Tongue" pattern (FM 19), consisting of groups of curved parallel lines rising from the groundline. Below this frieze, the lower body is encircled by thin bands, while the stem and foot feature thicker horizontal bands.

Label TextThis elegant stemmed cup, known as a kylix, was the standard wine-drinking vessel of the Mycenaean world. Found in great quantities in palaces and tombs, these cups were used during feasts and rituals that bonded the warrior-elite society of Bronze Age Greece. The decoration on the upper bowl features a series of curved, parallel lines known as the "Multiple Stem and Tongue" pattern. While early scholars sometimes mistook these sweeping curves for stylized nautilus shells—reflecting the Mycenaeans' deep connection to the sea—modern archaeologists identify them as an abstract floral motif. This vessel was reportedly found in the Argolis, the region surrounding the great citadel of Mycenae itself.Published References

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Toledo Museum of Art, fasc. 2, U.S.A. fasc. 20, Mainz, 1984, pl. 61, 2.