Drinking Cup (Kylix) in "Bilingual" Style

Artist The Painter of the Bowdoin Eye Cup (Greek)

Place of OriginGreek, Attic

Dateabout 520 BCE

Dimensions4 1/2 × 16 1/8 × 12 7/8 × 4 3/4 in. (11.4 × 41 × 32.7 × 12.1 cm)

MediumRed Figure; Wheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware

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

Label TextThe combination of the black-figure technique on the interior and red-figure on the exterior is an example of “bilingual” vase painting, made during the period from about 530 to 500 BCE, when the fashion changed from black-figure to red-figure and some vase painters worked in both techniques. The exterior of the cup shows a victorious athlete on one side, and a trainer measuring the distance an athlete has jumped or thrown a javelin on the reverse. The eyes painted on the sides are thought to represent Dionysos, god of wine. The centaur on the interior, about to throw a boulder, refers to the mythical battle of Lapiths and centaurs, started when the centaurs became drunk and rowdy at the wedding feast of the Lapith king Peirithous.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.