Advanced Search 
View: Side A
Athenian red figure cup supported by a pygmy dragging a crane
Greek
Classical Period
about 440 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions
30.3 cm (11 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1900
Accession Number03.799
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
DescriptionCup supported by an African. Two men and three women, all draped in various postures. The center of the composition lost. The support of the cup an African with brown hair, dragging along a white crane.
[Label text]:
The cup of this drinking horn is supported by a modeled depiction of an African dwarf dragging a crane. From Homer and other ancient authors, we learn of an Egyptian superstition that cranes fly south to attack and annoy the Pygmies. These Africans battled with the large birds to protect their fields and destroyed the cranes' eggs to prevent them from multiplying. On the rim of the cup are draped male and female figures.
[Label text]:
The cup of this drinking horn is supported by a modeled depiction of an African dwarf dragging a crane. From Homer and other ancient authors, we learn of an Egyptian superstition that cranes fly south to attack and annoy the Pygmies. These Africans battled with the large birds to protect their fields and destroyed the cranes' eggs to prevent them from multiplying. On the rim of the cup are draped male and female figures.
ProvenanceBy 1903: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: Bought in London. From an old collection.); purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren, March 24, 1903