1965.12

Attic Black-Glaze Mug

Purchased. Ht 9.2cm; diam. 8.5cm.

Intact but the surface is badly worn and chipped and the clay soft. Moulded lip. Strap handle running from lower lip to shoulder. The upper part of the foot is grooved and there is a short stem above. The underside is concave. Where preserved the glaze is a good lustrous black; it was washed all over, including the underside (the resting surface worn).

This type of mug is relatively uncommon. It is a variant of a frequent type of kantharos with moulded rim but with one instead of two handles and the handle of different form. Compare the very similar example from the Athenian Agora that is dated to the second quarter of the fourth century BC, B.A. Sparkes and L. Talcott, The Athenian Agora xii: Black and Plain Pottery (Princeton 1970) pl. 29, 705; see also p. 123 for a discussion of the shape and a list of other examples.

Probably second quarter of the fourth century BC.

Sotheby (London), Sale Cat., 17 May 1965, no. 166; J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 46.