K. Rhomiopoulou and G. Touratsoglou, Μίεζα. Νεκροταφείο υστεροαρχαικών – πρώιμων ελληνιστικών χρόνων (Athens 2002) 118 no. P 1737; J.D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford 1956) 539-542, 563; Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford 1971) 271-273 (with additional references in T.H. Carpenter, et al., Beazley Addenda. Additional References to ABV, ARV² & Paralipomena [2nd ed., Oxford 1989] 134ff); lekythos Dunedin E 28.75, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum New Zealand (1) pl. 23, 3-5; Laon 37989, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum (1) pl. 23, 2, 4 and 6, J.D. Beazley, Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford 1971) 284.

2008.04

Attic Black-Figure Cup (type sub-A)

Presented by Mr Ignatius Buckingham. Ht 7.1cm; diam. 17.5cm; diam. foot 6.8cm.

The vase is somewhat chipped about the lip and there is a small break at the lip in the centre of one side; it is otherwise intact.

Normal Attic clay. The cup has a broad, stemmed foot with flat resting surface. The handles, which are of circular section, do not rise above the level of the lip. The surface was left slightly rough around the handle attachments. The reserved surfaces are reddened, especially about the foot.

Fairly lustrous black glaze, in good condition except on one of the handles where it is worn and flaking. Reserved are the inner faces of the handles, the outer face of the foot and the resting surface. All the reserved surfaces are lightly reddened except for the inner face of the stem. There is a band of black at the bottom of the inside of the stem.

Inside: Male, leaning on a staff to right and looking back left, within a line.

A and B: The two scenes are virtually identical. A female (Ariadne?) mounting a chariot, with a satyr at the left and a female (maenad) with ivy spray at the right. By the chariot is a further female playing a lyre or kithara, an ivy spray in the background, and another figure (Dionysos with thyrsos?) behind the bodies of the horses. Below each handle, an ivy leaf on a heavy vertical stem. There is a line above, along the lip, and a thinly-painted groundline with a further band below.

There are no traces of added colour.

The black glaze on the inside of the bowl is somewhat streaky and the brush marks are clearly visible. They seem to imply a brush with a width of about one centimetre, made up of perhaps five component groups of hair.

The chariots on A and B are doubtless thought of as having four horses although only three are depicted.

For a discussion of such chariot scenes, see E.P. Manakidou, ΠαραστάσειV με άρματα (8οV – 5οV αι. π.Χ.) (Thessalonike 1994) 181-193; for a good example of the scene from which this ultimately derives, see her pl. 33, a cup in the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris.

The drawing is hasty and reminds one of the black-figure lekythoi with similar themes: compare for example the lekythos illustrated in K. Rhomiopoulou and G. Touratsoglou, Μίεζα. Νεκροταφείο υστεροαρχαικών – πρώιμων ελληνιστικών χρόνων (Athens 2002) 118 no. P 1737 from t. 131 although it has a satyr in front of the group rather than behind as here. It is certainly by the same hand as our cup. For the style of drawing, which is in the manner of the Haimon Painter, see J.D. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford 1956) 539-542, 563 (cups like ours) and 705-706, Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford 1971) 271-273 (with additional references in T.H. Carpenter, et al., Beazley Addenda. Additional References to ABV, ARV² & Paralipomena [2nd ed., Oxford 1989] 134ff) for listings of such scenes on lekythoi, and 563 for cups with the scene “goddess mounting chariot, attended. Apollo and Dionysos are often present, and the goddess may sometimes be Ariadne--or Semele--, and sometimes Leto. The figure with the lyre is occasionally female.” Compare for example the slightly more couth version on the lekythos Dunedin E 28.75, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum New Zealand (1) pl. 23, 3-5. The cup Laon 37989, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum (1) pl. 23, 2, 4 and 6, J.D. Beazley, Paralipomena: Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford 1971) 284, is also quite likely to be by the same hand as ours. The potterwork also seems to be the same.

Possibly still within the first quarter of the fifth century BC, but perhaps into the second.