Kylix. Greece, Attica, 470 - 450 BC.

Kylix. Greece, Attica, 470 - 450 BC.
Ceramics.
Attached thermoluminescence test.
Measurements: 22 cm long; 4.8 cm high.

Attic ceramic kylix, corresponding to one of the most emblematic forms of the Greek symposium. Its low profile, the wide circular bowl and the horizontal handles respond to a typology conceived for the consumption of wine in banquet contexts, where the recipient combined functionality, formal refinement and iconographic value.

The interior has a central decoration in red figure technique, with a nude male figure standing, carrying a long rod or staff. The scene is framed by a circular medallion, a common resource in Attic cups, designed to be revealed progressively during the use of the vessel. The contrast between the glossy black glaze and the figure reserved in the reddish tone of the clay underlines the visual elegance characteristic of Athenian ceramics of the early classical period.

Beyond its utilitarian function, the kylix was an object deeply linked to Greek social culture: it circulated in the symposium, accompanied conversation, music, poetry and play, and offered images in dialogue with the masculine, athletic, ritual or everyday world of classical Athens.