Lot 32A
Greece, Athens (Attic), ca. 6th to 5th century BCE. An impressively preserved kylix cup also called an eye cup as it presents two pairs of wide-open eyeballs painted in silhouette style with white and black pigment under sinuous fine-line eyebrows on the exterior walls along with figures in chariots occupying the spaces between. A pair of female figures mounts each 2-horsed chariot as a male figure stands amongst the animals. The interior of the vessel is adorned by central tondo of a black-figure male youth, draped in a robe as he holds a scepter and a strigil. Note the fugitive white pigment denoting the large eyes and the skin of the women in the chariots, as well as the incised details in the bodies of the horses and the robes of the figures. Scholars believe that Greek vase painters placed eyes on cups, because they were apotropaic - having the power to ward off evil. Another theory is that that when held up to drink, the eye cup would transform into a mask with painted eyes, handles that resembled ears, and the foot resembling a mouth. Size: 6.8" L x 9.5" W x 2.9" H (17.3 cm x 24.1 cm x 7.4 cm); 3.8" H (9.7 cm) on included custom stand.
The invention of the eye cup is traditionally attributed to Exekias whose eye cup in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen in Munich (530 to 540 BCE) is generally regarded as a masterpiece. Exekias presented large apotropaic eyes and battles between heroes on the exterior and on the interior, Dionysos sailing in a ship with dolphins in the surrounding seas.
A similar eye-cup can be found in Ferrara, Museo Nazionale di Spina, T457 (Beazley number 306482).
Provenance: ex-Brunk Auctions, Asheville, North Carolina, USA
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#183323
- Condition: Some minor nicks and abrasions commensurate with age. Otherwise, intact and excellent with good remaining pigments.
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