Skyphos (Drinking Cup) (About 500-480 BCE): Artwork and History

Skyphos (Drinking Cup) (About 500-480 BCE) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Attributed to the CHC Group Greek; Athens.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This cup was shaped to fit easily in the drinkers hand, and was likely used as part of the Greek symposium. Much like modern academic symposiums, in which people discuss a topic of common interest, debunking old theories and putting forth new hypotheses; the men of ancient Athens regularly got together in private homes to exchange ideas. Afterward the participants might continue the conversation, discussing their impressions in greater detail or simply socializing over a drink. As the evening progressed, participants engaged in other pleasures, including games, performances, and sex. Wine played a major role in fueling these evenings, and a myriad of vessels were used for preparing wine while smaller vessels like this one were used to serve and drink it.

Object facts

• Title: Skyphos (Drinking Cup)
• Date: About 500-480 BCE
• Artist attribution: Attributed to the CHC Group Greek; Athens
• Place of origin: Athens
• Medium: terracotta, black-figure
• Dimensions: 10.6 × 23.2 × 16.5 cm (4 3/16 × 9 1/8 × 6 1/2 in.)
• Type: Vessel
• Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
• Reference number: 1929.943

Collection credit

Gift of John Astley-Cock

View the original

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.