Marble footed cup

Technical Analysis: Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence examination, optical microscopy


This marble footed cup is intact except for a small loss at the rim that was filled and inpainted. In addition, the surface of the rim is weathered in some areas, resulting in tiny losses. It is a small, hemispherical open vessel with a thick cylindrical stem that flares downward to form a conical foot.(1) A thin, smooth groove undercuts the thick rolled rim and further delineates it from the upward curving sides of the cup. The bell-shaped foot has a shallow concave cavity at its underside and a flat standing edge. The thick rim is assigned to Gavalas’s subvariety E.(2) Within the Stern Collection of Cycladic Art, L.2022.38.139 is another type of footed cup resembling a kylix vase.


The overall surface is smoothed to polished, with some scratches. There are some noticeable gray areas on the marble, especially on the interior. Buff-colored accretions occur in some places.


Georgios Gavalas and Wendy Walker


(1) This type of vessel is briefly discussed by Getz-Gentle, Pat. 1996. The Stone Vessels of the Cyclades in the Early Bronze Age. pp. 160-62, pl. 94-95, University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press. Its closest parallel in size is K13 Athens NAM 5002 Syros Chandriani T378, p. 288; See also Rambach, Jörg. 2000. Kykladen I, Die Frühe Bronzenzeit Grab- und Siedlungsbefunde. p. 124, pl. 55.2 and p. 147, 2., Bonn: R. Habelt.


(2) See Gavalas, Giorgos. 2018. “The Stone Vessels”, in Renfrew, Colin, Olga Philaniotou, Neil Brodie, Giorgos Gavalas and Michael J. Boyd, eds. 2018. The Marble finds from Kavos and the Archaeology of Ritual, The sanctuary on Keros and the origins of Aegean ritual practice: the excavation of 2006-2008, Vol. III. p. 270, fig. 4.3 and pp. 306-7, fig. 4.6, Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaelogical Research, University of Cambridge.