Terracotta fragments of kylikes (drinking cups)

Art Historical Context

These terracotta fragments from kylikes—shallow drinking cups popular in ancient Greece—date to the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, spanning the Archaic and Classical periods. Crafted by an unknown Attic artist, they hail from Athens, the epicenter of Greek pottery production. Though incomplete, these shards offer a glimpse into the refined world of Attic vase-making, generously gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011 by Dietrich von Bothmer, a renowned curator of Greek and Roman art. Attic kylikes were essential for symposia, elite social gatherings where men reclined, drank wine diluted with water, and engaged in philosophical discourse, poetry, or games. Potters and painters used terracotta, firing clay at high temperatures to create durable, wheel-thrown vessels. Many from this era feature black-figure or pioneering red-figure techniques, where figures were incised or painted to stand out against glossy black backgrounds, depicting myths, athletes, or daily life with remarkable detail and narrative flair. These fragments highlight the artistic zenith of Attic pottery, widely exported across the Mediterranean, influencing cultures from Etruria to Persia. They remind us how everyday objects doubled as canvases for storytelling, preserving snapshots of ancient Greek society for modern eyes.