Skyphos (Drinking Cup) with Panthers, Goat, and Bird

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Skyphos (Drinking Cup) with Panthers, Goat, and Bird

Place of OriginGreece, Corinth

Date6th century BCE

DimensionsMax H: 9 in. (22.1 cm); Rim Diam: 6 in. (15 cm); H: 4 3/4 in. (12 cm); Base Diam: 3 1/4 in. (8 cm)

MediumWheel-thrown earthenware with black-figure slip decoration

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineGift of the Popplestone Family

Object number

2006.85

Not on View

DescriptionA deep, wheel-thrown ceramic wine cup (skyphos) featuring two horizontal loop handles attached near the rim. The body tapers from a wide mouth to a narrow, low foot. The exterior is decorated in the black-figure technique featuring a central frieze of animals in silhouette, including elongated felines (panthers or lions), a goat, and a bird. The background field is heavily filled with incised rosettes and dots. Vertical lines decorate the rim, and a ray pattern encircles the base. The interior is glazed dark.

Label TextThis deep, two-handled wine cup, known as a skyphos, was produced in Corinth, a powerful Greek city-state that dominated the pottery trade in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. The vessel features the "black-figure" technique, where figures are painted in dark slip against the pale clay, with details incised (cut) into the surface.

The decoration illustrates the "Animal Style," a design trend influenced by Near Eastern textiles and metalwork. A procession of animals—including elongated lions (or panthers), a goat, and a bird—encircles the cup, surrounded by filling ornaments of rosettes and dots.

Published ReferencesAncient World Arts Collection A899, no. A 388.