ClassificationsGreek and Roman Art
Gilded Black-Glaze Calyx Cup
AAT Object Techniquegilding (technique)
AAT Object Form/Functioncups (drinking vessels)
CultureGreek, Attic
PeriodHellenistic
Dateca. 300-290 BCE
MediumCeramic, gilding
Credit LineGift of Brian T. Aitken
Dimensions3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)
Object number2003.022.003
Label TextThe calyx cup with flaring rim; the body decorated with vertical grooves. The omphalos at the center of the interior of the cup is decorated with the facing head of an Ethiopian in relief. The cup belongs to a small class of Attic black-glazed pottery produced in the late fourth and early third centuries B.C. that has been given a coating of gold or silver leaf in imitation of precious metal vessels. Excavated examples were found in Macedonia, suggesting that the surface treatment was applied after export for an elite Macedonian market.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Gallery, September 2004 - May 2008
MCCM Permanent Collection Gallery, October 2, 2023 - Present
Published ReferencesZoe Kotitsa, "Metal-Coated Pottery in Macedonia in Late Classical and Hellenistic Period," in Topics on Hellenistic Pottery in Ancient Macedonia, 109-25, ed. Stella Drougou, et al (Athens: Archaeological Receipts Fund, 2012), 108, note 4.
Dyfri Williams, "Gilded Pottery and Golden Jewellery," in The Macedonians in Athens, 322-229, ed. Olga Palagia and Stephen V. Tracy (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2016), 227, figure 1.
ProvenanceWith Brian T. Aitken (1952-2009) [Acanthus Gallery], New York, New York.
Status
On viewCollections
- Greek and Roman Art
ca. 300-290 BCE
ca. 325-300 BCE
ca. 325-300 BCE
ca. 325-300 BCE
late 2nd Century BCE
2nd Century BCE
late 6th Century BCE
3rd Century BCE
3rd Century BCE
late 1st Century BCE - early 1st Century CE
