CIRCA 540-530 B.C.

Details

AN ATTIC BLACK-FIGURED BAND CUP
CIRCA 540-530 B.C.
8 ¼ in. (21 cm.) diam. excl. handles

Provenance

Sybille Rosenbaum-Kroeber (1915-1997), Berlin, acquired circa 1964.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York (Art of the Ancient World, vol. XIV, 2003, no. 91; 1000 Years of Ancient Greek Vases, vol. II, 2010, no. 53).
Antiquities, Christie’s, New York, 7 December 2006, lot no. 78.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2011.
Beazley Archive Pottery Database no. 26021.

Exhibited

Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, 2011-2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA734).

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

Decorated with erotic scenes on each side; a copulating couple is flanked by running nude males and standing draped male onlookers. As C. Johns informs (pp. 117-120 in Sex or Symbol? Erotic Images of Greece and Rome, 1982), erotic scenes feature most prominently on drinking vessels and are connected to symposia. While the invited guests were all male, female consorts (hetairai) and dancers provided entertainment and sexual services for the men. It is therefore not surprising that such scenes appear on vases that were used in this context. Though dancers are more common around the erotic scene, cloaked bystanders do occur elsewhere as well, cf. a Little Master cup in the Antikenmuseum der Universität Leipzig, inv. no. T 3359.

More from Antiquities from the Mougins Museum of Classical Art

View All