Terracotta kylix: eye-cup (drinking cup)

Pheidippos

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Interior, black-figure, Dionysos, the god of wine Exterior, red-figure, between eyes, warrior, runner Eye-cups were decorated not only in the black-figure technique but also in red-figure and in the combination of the two known as bilingual. While contemporary black-figure and red-figure eye-cups share many features, the red-figure examples often have figures on the interior and rather sparse decoration on the exterior.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.

Metropolitan Museum of Art