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A work made of terracotta, red-figure.

Kylix (Drinking Cup)

about 460 BCE

Attributed to the Penthesilea Painter Greek; Athens

Ancient Greece

This is an example of the most popular type of wine cup, the kylix. Rising from a round foot and a thin stem, the cup flares out to a wide bowl with two handles on opposite sides. The interior of a kylix typically has a painted scene within a tondo, or circular frame, which would have been gradually revealed to the drinker as the wine was consumed. Here a youth stands before a woman.

terracotta, red-figure

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium