Made in the late sixth century B.C., when the cult of Eros was enjoying a resurgence in Athens, the drinking cup is exceptional for showing the god of love in the interior flying between the sky and earth as an intermediary between the divine and the mortal realms. The exterior decoration also emphasizes themes of unity and order, presenting a very early depiction of the principal deeds of Theseus as a group. The hero was credited in antiquity with consolidating the numerous localities around Athens into one political entity. Kachrylion, the potter, specialized in the use of a distinctive, often impermanent, coral-red slip, applied here adjacent to the scenes on both the interior and the exterior. The work was discovered in 1882 in the most important necropolis, or cemetery, of Orvieto, Italy, the Crocefisso del Tufo. Following conservation practices in Florence, the modern restorations are plainly visible than tinted to match surrounding areas.
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Credit Line:Lent by the Republic of Italy, Polo Museale Regionale della Toscana
Inscription: Interior, ho pa[i]s kalos. Obverse, Kachry[lion] epoesen. Under handle, epoesen. Reverse, Kachrylion [ep]oesen; kalos; pais.
January 1882, excavated from the so-called “Tomb of the Panathenaic” in Le Conce, Orvieto; from 1882, in the collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Florence (at the time called the Royal Archaeological Museum)
January 1882, excavated from the so-called “Tomb of the Panathenaic” in Le Conce, Orvieto; 1882, acquired by the National Archaeological Museum, Florence (at the time called the Royal Archaeological Museum); 1882 – present, collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Florence.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
