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Lot Essay
This hitherto unpublished kylix is a masterpiece by the Brygos Painter and an important addition to the artist’s oeuvre. Dating to the early 5th century B.C., the golden age of Attic red-figured wine cups, it is by one of the foremost artists of the era and is richly ornamented with scenes from daily life as witnessed by elite society.
Nearly twenty cups or cup-fragments with the inscription Brygos epoiesen (Brygos made me) are known. Of them, the five finest are recognized as being by the same hand, who is today called the Brygos Painter. That the others are by different hands suggests that the Brygos Painter and Brygos the potter are separate individuals (see M. Robertson, The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens, p. 93). The Brygos Painter was primarily a cup painter, but he also painted other vessels associated with the symposium (see. p. 54 in D. Williams, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, British Museum, vol. 9). Together with the painters Douris, Onesimos and Makron, the Brygos Painter is considered one of the leading cup-painters of his generation. Of particular note is the artist’s use of dilute glaze to skillfully depict anatomical details, a technique used to great effect on the cup presented here.
Both sides of the exterior present scenes from the palestra. On one, two youthful, nude pankratists engage in a bout, with a bearded referee clad in a himation and holding a forked stick (rhabdos), looking on from the right side. One combatant stands with his arms splayed, about to deliver a blow, while his opponent leans back, his right arm projecting forward, his left bent back with his hand protecting his head. A second pair of fighters battle to the left, with their referee turning away. One stands with his left arm raised to his head, preparing to deliver a blow with his right, which is pulled back. His opponent cowers in a crouch, his head turned frontally. A fluted pillar stands at the far right.
At the center of the other side is a pederastic courtship scene between a bearded man and a nude youth standing before him, the man wearing a himation and leaning on a walking stick. He holds a purse in his right hand and offers a hare to the youth, which he grasps by the ears and holds out before him. The youth holds a strigil and a dog stands before them. Looking on from the right is a himation-clad youth leaning on a walking stick, and a youthful nude acontist, walking right but looking back. Between them hangs a pair of jumping weights (haltares). To the left stands a nude youth using a strigil on his left arm, and a boy wearing a chlamys, holding a T-shaped walking stick. The relationship between an older man (erastes) and a youth (eromenos) has been interpreted as “a form of mentorship, inculcating the mores of male society into the youth of the polis” (see J. Neils, “Athens in the Time of the Berlin Painter,” p. 8, in J. M. Padgett, The Berlin Painter and His World). For another courtship scene by the Brygos Painter, and for a recent discussion of the topic, see fig. 1.9 in A. Lear and E. Cantarella, Images of Ancient Greek Pederasty.
The tondo depicts the aftermath of overindulgence at the symposium in which a bearded reveler vomits into a lekane held by a nude boy. The man wears his himation over his shoulders and supports himself on a T-shaped walking stick. In his lowered right hand, he holds what appears to be a feather, which would have been used to tickle the back of his throat to induce vomiting. The youth holds the lekane by the foot and rim; behind him hangs a flute case (sybene). The scene is enclosed within a band of leftward stopt meander, and there is a nonsense inscription in the field. The lekane is ornamented with a black band below the rim, and is similar in form to a two-handled example seen on a cup near the Brygos Painter in Copenhagen, placed next to a reclining symposiast (see no. 21 in B. Sparkes and L. Talcott, Pots and Pans of Classical Athens).
Nearly twenty cups or cup-fragments with the inscription Brygos epoiesen (Brygos made me) are known. Of them, the five finest are recognized as being by the same hand, who is today called the Brygos Painter. That the others are by different hands suggests that the Brygos Painter and Brygos the potter are separate individuals (see M. Robertson, The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens, p. 93). The Brygos Painter was primarily a cup painter, but he also painted other vessels associated with the symposium (see. p. 54 in D. Williams, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, British Museum, vol. 9). Together with the painters Douris, Onesimos and Makron, the Brygos Painter is considered one of the leading cup-painters of his generation. Of particular note is the artist’s use of dilute glaze to skillfully depict anatomical details, a technique used to great effect on the cup presented here.
Both sides of the exterior present scenes from the palestra. On one, two youthful, nude pankratists engage in a bout, with a bearded referee clad in a himation and holding a forked stick (rhabdos), looking on from the right side. One combatant stands with his arms splayed, about to deliver a blow, while his opponent leans back, his right arm projecting forward, his left bent back with his hand protecting his head. A second pair of fighters battle to the left, with their referee turning away. One stands with his left arm raised to his head, preparing to deliver a blow with his right, which is pulled back. His opponent cowers in a crouch, his head turned frontally. A fluted pillar stands at the far right.
At the center of the other side is a pederastic courtship scene between a bearded man and a nude youth standing before him, the man wearing a himation and leaning on a walking stick. He holds a purse in his right hand and offers a hare to the youth, which he grasps by the ears and holds out before him. The youth holds a strigil and a dog stands before them. Looking on from the right is a himation-clad youth leaning on a walking stick, and a youthful nude acontist, walking right but looking back. Between them hangs a pair of jumping weights (haltares). To the left stands a nude youth using a strigil on his left arm, and a boy wearing a chlamys, holding a T-shaped walking stick. The relationship between an older man (erastes) and a youth (eromenos) has been interpreted as “a form of mentorship, inculcating the mores of male society into the youth of the polis” (see J. Neils, “Athens in the Time of the Berlin Painter,” p. 8, in J. M. Padgett, The Berlin Painter and His World). For another courtship scene by the Brygos Painter, and for a recent discussion of the topic, see fig. 1.9 in A. Lear and E. Cantarella, Images of Ancient Greek Pederasty.
The tondo depicts the aftermath of overindulgence at the symposium in which a bearded reveler vomits into a lekane held by a nude boy. The man wears his himation over his shoulders and supports himself on a T-shaped walking stick. In his lowered right hand, he holds what appears to be a feather, which would have been used to tickle the back of his throat to induce vomiting. The youth holds the lekane by the foot and rim; behind him hangs a flute case (sybene). The scene is enclosed within a band of leftward stopt meander, and there is a nonsense inscription in the field. The lekane is ornamented with a black band below the rim, and is similar in form to a two-handled example seen on a cup near the Brygos Painter in Copenhagen, placed next to a reclining symposiast (see no. 21 in B. Sparkes and L. Talcott, Pots and Pans of Classical Athens).