Kantharos (Drinking Cup) with Relief-Decorated Handle

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Kantharos (Drinking Cup) with Relief-Decorated Handle

Place of OriginItaly, reportedly from Vulci

Dateabout 550-525 BCE

Dimensions17 1/16 × 11 5/16 × 9 1/2 × 6 3/16 in. (43.3 × 28.7 × 24.2 × 15.7 cm)
to rim: 10 11/16 in. (27.2 cm)

MediumTerracotta, bucchero ware: wheel-thrown earthenware with applied, pressed, and incised decoration

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineGift of The Georgia Welles Apollo Society

Object number

1993.51

On View

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

DescriptionA tall, wheel-thrown earthenware vessel in solid black bucchero ware with applied and incised decoration. It has a single elongated strap handle featuring molded relief figures: a man in a fringed tunic and a female protome above. The vessel stands on a long stem with a domed foot and flaring bowl, embellished with raised fillets and incised zigzag patterns. The surface finish and form emulate bronze vessels. The kantharos leans slightly to one side, possibly due to firing sag. It has been broken and restored.

Label TextThis tall black vessel—called a kantharos—was made by Etruscan potters around 550 B.C. and emulates bronze forms in ceramic. Its high strap handle features a striking pair of relief figures: a man in profile dressed in a fringed tunic (chiton), and above him, the frontal head of a woman. These figural motifs mirror decorations seen on hammered metalwork. The surface is decorated with fine zigzag incisions and raised ridges, all set in a rich black ceramic known as bucchero, made black throughout by a special firing process.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, A decade of giving: The Apollo Society at the Toledo Museum of Art, 1996, p. 19, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, Inspired Giving: The Apollo Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition, October 15, 2010-February 13, 2011, p. 21, repr. (col.). p. 21.

Comparative ReferencesSee also De Puma, R., Etruscan and Villanovan Pottery, Iowa City, The University of Iowa Museum of Art exhibition catalogue, 1971, pp. 17-25, esp. p. 21, no. 32.