The cup consists of a round, flat bowl resting on a wide foot. Two small handles on the sides allow the drinker to hold it. Like most ancient Greek ceramics, this cup is decorated with motifs, here "black figures", drawn using an engobe that blackens during firing.
The decorations feature a traditional register for a wine cup; vines, a bearded horseman who may represent Dionysus, depicted on the inside and outside of the cup.
However, there’s another motif. Look! On either side of the rider, we can see a stylised eye, whose pupil is marked by a white circle. These two large eyes are watching us… But what are they for?
Even today, we don’t know their precise meaning. We need to put ourselves in the place of the wine drinker. When he raised his cup, the two painted eyes were superimposed on his face. The cup then became a mask and the drinker a member of Dionysus's retinue! We can also see in this cup an apotropaic object, an object that wards off bad luck. Today, it’s possible to find these eyes on the prows of fishing boats in the Mediterranean!
This item is currently not on display.
The cup consists of a round, flat bowl resting on a wide foot. Two small handles on the sides allow the drinker to hold it. Like most ancient Greek ceramics, this cup is decorated with motifs, here "black figures", drawn using an engobe that blackens during firing.
The decorations feature a traditional register for a wine cup; vines, a bearded horseman who may represent Dionysus, depicted on the inside and outside of the cup.
However, there’s another motif. Look! On either side of the rider, we can see a stylised eye, whose pupil is marked by a white circle. These two large eyes are watching us… But what are they for?
Even today, we don’t know their precise meaning. We need to put ourselves in the place of the wine drinker. When he raised his cup, the two painted eyes were superimposed on his face. The cup then became a mask and the drinker a member of Dionysus's retinue! We can also see in this cup an apotropaic object, an object that wards off bad luck. Today, it’s possible to find these eyes on the prows of fishing boats in the Mediterranean!
This item is currently not on display.
