Eye-cup

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Chalkidian black-figure eye-cup, circa 530 BC, Munich: Staatliche Antikensammlungen.

Dionysos on a boat, sailing amongst dolphins. Attic black-figure kylix by Exekias, circa 530 BC. Found at Vulci. Munich: Staatliche Antikensammlungen.

Eye-cup is the term describing a specific cup type in ancient Greek pottery, distinguished by pairs of eyes painted on the external surface. Classified as kylikes in terms of shape, they were especially widespread in Athens and Chalkis in the second half of the sixth century BC. The bowl of the eye-cup rests on a short squat foot; both sides are dominated by large painted pairs of eyes under arched eyebrows. The eyeballs are painted in silhouette style, later often filled with white paint or painted white on black. Some eyes are “female”, i.e. almond-shaped and without tear-ducts. Often, a stylized nose is placed centrally between the eyes. While used as a drinking vessel, due to the necessary inclination of the vessel, the cup with its painted eyes, the handles looking like ears and the base of the foot like a mouth, would have resembled a mask. Many of the vases also bear dionysiac imagery.^[1] The eyes are assumed to have served an apotrophaic (evil-averting) function. Eye-cups were painted by various painters, mostly in the black-figure style, but later also in the red-figure technique. The earliest bilingual vases include specimens of eye-cups with a black-figure interior and a red-figure exterior. The introduction of this type and its specific decration into Attic vase painting is attributed to Exekias. His eye-cup in Munich, dated 530-540 BC, is considered a masterpiece of the type. It depicts Dionysos, lying in a symposiast posture on a ship. His divine nature is indicated by his attributem, a vine, growing from the mast. Other well-known examples of eye-cups are by the following painters or groups:

Amasis;he painted several eye-cups of a variant shape with non-carinated profile (Type B) ^[2]
Andokides ^[2]
Antiphon Painter
Epiktetos with bilingual eye-cups ^[3]
Ghost Painter
Painter of the Nicosia Olpe
Hischylos
Krokotos Group ^[2]
Leafless Group; they continued the basic eye-cup shape with later variants, often lacking the large pair of eyes.^[4]
Lydos Group
Lysippides Painter
Mastos Painter
Nikosthenes ^[2]
Oltos with bilingual eye-cups ^[3]
Pheidippos with bilinguals ^[3]
Skythes, also with bilinguas ^[3]
Group of Walters 48.42, specialising in frontal views of masks of Dionysos, and of satyrs and maenads between the eyes, and gorgoneia on the cup interior ^[2]

A special type is the Chalkidian style cup, of which further variants exist.^[5] Dating is often difficult, but the majority of eye-cups were probably produced between 540 and 500 BC, perhaps up to 480 BC.^[6] They were also exported to Italy in large quantities. The majority of vases of this type were found as grave goods in Etruscan chamber tombs.

References

↑ Friedrich Wilhelm Handorf, in: Klaus Vierneisel, Bert Kaeser (Hrsg.), Kunst der Schale – Kultur des Trinkens, München 1990, p. 419 f.
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 John Boardman, Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen, Übers. v. Florian Felten, Mainz 1977, ISBN 3-8053-0233-9, p. 118
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 John Boardman, Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen, Übers. v. Florian Felten, Mainz 1977, ISBN 3-8053-0233-9, p. 124
↑ John Boardman, Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen, Übers. v. Florian Felten, Mainz 1977, ISBN 3-8053-0233-9, p. 163
↑ John Boardman, Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen, Übers. v. Florian Felten, Mainz 1977, ISBN 3-8053-0233-9, p. 119
↑ Bettina Kratzmüller, Eine attisch schwarzfigurige Augenschale

Bibliography

Corpus vasorum antiquorum. Deutschland. Hrsg. Komm. f. d. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum b. d. Bay. Akad. d. Wiss. /Union Académique Internationale.Bd 77: München, Antikensammlung Band 13. Attische Augenschalen. Bearb. Fellmann, Berthold. 2004. ISBN 3-406-51960-1
Friedrich Wilhelm Handorf, in: Klaus Vierneisel, Bert Kaeser (eds.), Kunst der Schale – Kultur des Trinkens, München 1990, p. 418 f.
Norbert Kunisch: Die Augen der Augenschalen, in: Antike Kunst 33 1990

External links

Raimund Wünsche, „Trinken aus den Augen“ - Griechische Augenschalen, aviso 2005,/4
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eye-cups.

v t e Pottery of ancient Greece

Wine vessel shapes	Dinos Kotyle Krater Kyathos Psykter Rhyton Skyphos

Tableware	Eye-cup Kantharos Kylix Oenochoe Olpe Patera Pinakion

Perfume, oil, and wedding shapes	Alabastron Aryballos Askos Lebes Gamikos Lekythos Loutrophoros Lydion Pyxis Stirrup jar

Funerary shapes and cultic shapes	Kernos Lekythos Loutrophoros Phiale

Storage shapes	Amphora Hydria Kalathos Kalpis Lebes Pelike Pithos Stamnos

Utilitarian ceramics	Chuta Epinetron Luchnos Situla

Techniques	Bilingual pottery Black-figure Bucchero Red-figure Six's technique Three-phase firing White-ground

Styles	Ancient Greek vase-painting styles

Potters and Painters	List of Greek potters List of Greek vase painters List of Little Masters Name vase

Museums noted for pottery	Athens Basel und Ludwig Berlin Bodrum British Edinburgh Getty Heraklion Louvre Thera Ure Vatican Walters

Writers and books	Adolf Furtwängler Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Dietrich von Bothmer Edmond Pottier John Beazley John Boardman Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae

Special topics in Greek pottery	Frying pans Kalos inscription Nikosthenic amphora Panathenaic amphora Symposium Typology

Source of Translation

This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

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