Kylix with Theseus and Minotaur

Artist Tleson (Athenian, active 560-540 BCE)

Place of OriginGreece, Attica

Dateabout 550 BCE

Dimensions6 1/4 × 12 3/8 × 9 3/8 × 3 11/16 in. (15.9 × 31.4 × 23.8 × 9.4 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

1958.70

On View

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

DescriptionShallow, wide drinking cup with two handles and a broad foot. The exterior is decorated with palmettes and spiral tendrils beside the potter’s signature. Inside, Theseus, labeled in Greek, seizes the Minotaur by the horn and prepares to strike with his sword. The Minotaur, kneeling, clutches Theseus’s arms. Incised lines suggest the Minotaur’s fur, with areas left in solid black. Theseus wears a fillet, short chiton, and animal skin. The composition is framed by a tongue pattern and concentric circles. Visible ancient repairs include lead clamps and dowels.

Label TextA sword is raised above the Minotaur’s head as Theseus grabs the creature’s horn, capturing the moment of action in this ancient Greek cup. Made in Athens about 2,500 years ago and signed by the potter Tleson ("Tleson son of Nearchos made me”), this drinking cup was used at lively banquets, where the scene would slowly appear as the wine was finished. The story shows Theseus defeating the Minotaur, a symbol of bravery that was important to the people of Athens. Each figure is labeled in Greek, and the Minotaur’s fur is carved with short lines to stand out from the shiny black surface. Marks from old lead repairs show that this cup was treasured and carefully fixed in ancient times.Published References

Auktion XVIII Basel, Basel, Munzen und Medaillen, 1958, pp. 28-29, lot no. 87.

Brommer, Frank, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, Marburg, 2nd ed., 1960, p. 176, no. 48.

Washington, S., "Greek Vase Painting," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 5, no. 4, 1962, p. 79.

Riefstahl, Rudolph M., "Greek Vases," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 11, no. 2, 1968, p. 31.

Beazley, John D., Paralipomena, Oxford, 1971, p. 75, no. 1 bis.

Luckner, Kurt T., "Greek Vases: Shapes and Uses," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 15, no. 3, 1972, p. 76, fig. 20.

Brommer, Frank, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, Marburg, 1973, p. 233, no. 56.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, U.S.A. Fasc. 17, Toledo, 1976, p. 23-24, repr. pl. 34 and 35,1.

Simon, Erika, Die Griechischen Vasen, Munich, 1976, no. 66, pp. 22, 81, repr. (tondo and profile).

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC), Zürich, 1981-1999, vol. VI, pt. 1, p. 575, no. 9, repr. vol. VI, p. 2, p. 317.

Russell, Pamela J., Ceramics & Society: Making and Marketing Ancient Greek Pottery, Tampa Museum of Art, 1994, no. 33, repr. p. 57.

Antigone & the Greek world, Cleveland, OH, Nexus, 1997, repr. p. 1.

Heesen, Pieter, Athenian Little-Master Cups, Amsterdam, Pieter Heesen, 2011, pp. 180, 187-188, 257, repr. fig. 106, pl. 80c and pl. 81a.

Stutzinger, Dagmar, Griechen, Etrusker und Römer: Eine Kulturgeschichte der antiken Welt im Spiegel der Sammlungen des Archaologischen Museums Frankfurt, Regensburg, Schnell & Steiner, 2012, fig. 107 p. 106.

Exhibition History

Tampa Museum of Art, Ceramics & Society: Making and Marketing Ancient Greek Pottery, 1994, no. 33.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Beazley, John D., Attic Black-figure Vase-painters, Oxford, 1956, p. 181.

cf. Beazley, John D., The Development of Attic Black-figure, Berkeley, 1951, p. 55 (on the Tleson Painter and Tleson Potter).

cf. Beazley, John D., "Little-master Cups," Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 52, 1932, pp. 195-196 (on little master cups).

cf. Kunze, E., Archaische Schildbander (Olympische Forschungen II), Berlin, 1950, pp. 129-132 (on the iconography of Theseus and the Minotaur).