• m10-att-85-10
    Attic Black-Figure cup from Sardis: band skyphos No. 102. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-85-20
    Profile view featuring panthers. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-85-30
    Profile view featuring broken side. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-85-40
    Overview of fragment with panthers. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-85-50
    Overview of fragment with palmette. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-85-60
    Drawing. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Attic Black Figure Band Skyphos

Date
600-550 BC, Lydian
Museum
Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, 6548
Museum Inventory No.
6548
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
P84.057
Material
Ceramic
Object Type
Pottery
Pottery Shape
Band Skyphos
Pottery Ware
Attic Black Figure
Pottery Attribution
Group of Louvre CP10252
Site
Sardis
Sector
MMS
Trench
MMS-I 84.1
Locus
MMS-I 84.1 Locus 34
B-Grid Coordinates
E145.7 - E149 / S67.2 - S70 *100.46 - 100.43
Description

Forty-nine fragments of a nearly complete cup, which, however, lacks the upper third of the body on one side and small fragments from the foot and other side. The lip is everted, the foot low and flared. The handles rise markedly from their point of attachment to the body.

Exterior: the handle zone is reserved and is decorated by a horizontal line near the top, and at either side, near the handle, by a palmette with ten petals, alternating black and purple, and a purple heart. A purple fillet decorates the upper part of the tendril. In the center of the handle zone are two confronted panthers. The right one's tail is partly hidden by the palmette. Head, neck. and chest are decorated with a white-dot rosette, and more dots appear on the face and neck. Added purple is found on the shoulders, between the ribs, and on the hindquarters. Double-incised lines mark the forelegs. On the reverse is the same scene, but only the lower part of the palmette and legs of the animals remain. A narrow reserved band encircles the cup below. Interior: black glaze.

The piece has been burned, especially on the lip. The glaze is very fine, and the painting miniaturist and delicate. Both painting style and shape suggest a date just before the mid-sixth century. The Group of Louvre CP10252 was identified by Joan T. Haldenstein (by letter).

Dimensions
H. 0.14; diam. of foot 0.065; diam. of rim 0.107.
Comments
See Also
See also: LATW Cat. 102
Bibliography
Published: Ramage, “Attic Cups”; BASOR Suppl. 25 (1987) 28, fig. 13, and 66, fig. 10. Compare the panthers especially to CVA Paris, Cab. Med. 2, pl. 47, nos. 9--11. For the shape, which is an early form of the Hermogenean skyphos, J. D. Beazley, Greek Vases in Poland (Oxford 1928) 3-4, n. 6, latter part; and K. S. Gorbunova, Attic Black-Figure Vases in the Hermitage (Leningrad 1983) 58, no. 38 (in Russian). I am grateful to C. H. Greenewalt, Jr., for the last reference. For a discussion of the excavation context, see BASOR Suppl. 25 (1987) 25--31. Lydians and Their World, cat. 102.
Author
NHR