Exterior, obverse, inscription: fairest of the maidens On interior, a sphinx seated facing right with its paw lifted
This sphinx, the sole and central decoration on this cup, is of an early type. The inscription, hailing the beauty of girls, is unusual. Commonly, the beautiful appearance of young boys, not of girls, is celebrated by Greek vase painters.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Terracotta kylix: Siana cup (drinking cup)
Period:Archaic
Date:mid-6th century BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Terracotta; black-figure
Dimensions:H. 3 9/16 in. (9.1 cm.) Width with handles 9 5/8 in. (24.5 cm.) Diameter 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm.)
Classification:Vases
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1941
Accession Number:41.162.126
Inscription: Inscribed: "fairest of the maidens"
1857. Sotheby's Sale of the Chaffers Collection. February 17, 1857. no. 229.
Smith, H.R.W. 1926. "The Skyphos of Klitomenes." American Journal of Archaeology, 30(4): p. 433 n. 1.
Hoppin, James C. and Albert Eugene Gallatin. 1926. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, USA 1, Hoppin and Gallatin Collections. p. 89, Gallatin pl. 41.1a–b, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Beazley, John D. 1927. "Some Inscriptions on Vases." American Journal of Archaeology, 31(3): p. 346.
Beazley, John D. 1941. "Some Inscriptions on Vases. IV." American Journal of Archaeology, 45(4): no. 6, p. 597.
Chase, George H. and Mary Z. Pease. 1942. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. United States of America 8. Fogg Museum and Gallatin Collections 1. pl. 41.1a–b, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1942. "The Gallatin Collection of Greek Vases." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 37(3): pp. 57–58.
Amyx, D.A. 1942. "Reviewed Work: Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, U. S. A., Fascicule 8: Fogg Museum and Gallatin Collections by George H. Chase, Mary Zelia Pease." American Journal of Archaeology, 46(4): p. 577.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. United States of America 11. The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2. Attic Black-Figured Kylikes. pls. VI, XXXVII, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lazenby, Francis D. 1954. "Reviewed Work: Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, United States of America, fasc. 11: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, fasc. 2: Attic Black-Figured Kylikes by Gisela M. A. Richter." The Classical Weekly, 47(13). p. 200.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1962. "Five Attic Black-Figured Lip-Cups." American Journal of Archaeology, 66(3): p. 256.
Dunbabin, Thomas James. 1962. "Pottery, Ivories, Scarabs, and Other Objects from the Votive Deposit of Hera Limenia." Perachora: The Sanctuaries of Hera Akraia and Limenia; Excavations of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, 1930-1933, Vol. 2. no. 4, p. 377, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Schauenburg, Konrad. 1981. "Zu einer Kleinmeisterschale in Privatbesitz." Archäologischer Anzeiger, : p. 336 n. 10.
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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.
