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Drinking cup (skyphos) with confronting lions
Greek
Archaic Period
about 585–570 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Black Figure
Dimensions
Height: 11.2 cm (4 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Catharine Page Perkins Fund
Accession Number97.366
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
Catalogue Raisonné
Fairbanks, Vases (MFA), no. 561.
DescriptionOn the obverse, two lions stand confronted with their chests touching and their faces turned backwards towards the vessel’s handles. Each of the lions is rendered in black paint. Their manes, mouths, chests and bellies are all detailed with red paint, while the locks of hair along their necks alternate in color between red and black. Details of the lions’ anatomy are articulated with incisions. Their ferocity is implied especially by their open mouths, which display their large teeth and projecting tongues. On reverse, a complex interlocking lotus and palmette motif fills the entire pictorial field. The rim and handles of the vessel are decorated with thin linear bands. The lions and the lotus and palmette motif stand atop a red bounding line, below which is a pair of gridded lines and another red bounding line, which is in turn bordered by a ray pattern that emanates from the cup’s foot.
ProvenanceBy date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: Bought in Athens.); 1897: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren for $ 25,000.00 (this figure is the total price for MFA 97.285-97.442 and 97.1104)