Drinking Cup (Skyphos) with Deeds of Theseus

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Drinking Cup (Skyphos) with Deeds of Theseus

Artist Theseus Painter Greek

Place of OriginGreek, from Attica

Dateabout 490 BCE

DimensionsH (max) 6 9/16 × W (max) 11 11/16 × Diam (base) 5 1/2 × Diam (lip) 8 7/8 in. (16.7 × 29.7 × 14 × 22.5 cm)

MediumBlack Figure; Wheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware with incised details

ClassificationCeramics

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

Object number

1963.27

On View

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

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published ReferencesMünzen and Medaillen A.G., Auktion XXVI, Kunstwerke der Antike. Basel. 5. Oct. 1963, p. 59, lot. no. 114.

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

"New Accessions," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 7, no. 4, 1964, p. 79.

Beazley, John D., Paralipomena, Oxford, 1971, p. 257 (where the subject of Side B is described incorrectly as Sinis).

Luckner, Kurt T., "Greek Vases: Shapes and Uses," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 15, no. 3, cover.

Brommer, Frank, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, 3rd ed., Marburg, 1973, p. 245, no. 7, p. 249-250, no. 4.

Boardman, John, Athenian Black Figure Vases, London, 1974, p. 147, and figs. 245 and 245.2.

Münzen and Medaillen A.G., Auktion 51. Kusntwerke der Antike. 14./15. Marz 1975. Basel, p. 62, lot no. 149.

Moret, Jean-Marc, L'Illioupersis dans la céramique italiote, Rome, 1975, vol I, p. 201, n. 4.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, U.S.A. Fasc. 17, Toledo, 1976, p. 22-23, repr. pl. 32.

Taylor, Michael, The Tyrant Slayers, New York, 1981, p. 137, repr. plates 33, 34.

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC), Zürich, 1981-1999, vol. VII, p. 931, no. 97, p. 933, no. 127; repr. vol. VII, p. 42, p. 646.

Hatzivassiliou, Eleni, Athenian Black Figure Iconography between 510 and 475 B.C., Rahden/Westf., Leidorf, 2010, p. 25, 64, 86, cat. no. 336, p. 131, pl. 8.3.

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

Comparative ReferencesSee also Haspels, C.H. Emilie, Attic Black-figured Lekythoi, 1936, pp. 141-165 and 249-254 (on the Theseus Painter).

cf. Beazley, John D., Attic Black-figure Vase-painters, Oxford, 1956, pp. 518 ff. (on the Theseus Painter).

cf. Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 75, 1955, p. 90 ff, (on the Heron Class).

cf. La Geniere, Juliette de, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, 1963, Laon, fasc. 1; France fasc. 20, pl. 25, nos. 8-10 (a skyphos exceptionally close to Toledo's).

Label TextThe legendary hero Theseus was the illegitimate son of king Aegeus of Athens and Aethra, a princess of Troezen in central Greece. On reaching adulthood he traveled to Athens, having adventures and slaying enemies along the way. The scenes on this cup show his encounters with Procrustes (on the front) and with Skiron. Procrustes invited travelers to spend the night on his iron bed, then stretched or cut them to fit. Theseus dispatches him with a double-headed axe. Skiron was a bandit who forced travelers to wash his feet and when they knelt before him, he kicked them off a cliff. Theseus returns the favor, pushing Skiron to his death.