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A Cup signed by Brygos at Oxford

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

M. A. B. Herford
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Extract

A complete drawing is reproduced in Plate IX. of a kylix in the Ashmolean Museum, signed on the handle ΒΡ∨↾ΟΣ ΕΓΕΣΕΝ. Apart from the interest of its signature, the vase is important for its subject, which appears to be rare if not unique. I have, however, been unable to determine with certainty either subject or authorship, and shall content myself with trying to establish a sound basis for further investigation, and suggesting features of probable significance.

The kylix is large, with a comparatively small design in the interior. The chief measurements are: height, 12 cm., diameter, 33 cm., breadth across handles, 41 cm., diameter of inner circle, 14 cm. The cup is fragmentary, but the existing surface is well preserved, and the black, which is laid on rather thickly in parts, is deep and glossy throughout.

The interior scene has a border of stopped maeander in sets of 2, 3, or 4 broken alternately by chequer squares and saltire squares with dots at the ends of the cross-arms. The two scenes on the exterior have no border but a reserved red line above and below. There is a fragmentary palmette design beneath one handle.

The scene in the interior (Plate IX.) is practically complete except for a gap at the bottom of the circle, which, though it leaves the figures intact, possibly deprives us of some clue to the interpretation of the subject. All that is certain is that the two figures are kneeling on some level surface, the horizontal line of which marks off a reserved segment of the circle with depth equal to about a quarter of its diameter. The horizontal border of egg and tongue suggests, though it does not invariably denote, a definite part of the scene, such as an altar.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 34 , November 1914 , pp. 106 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1914

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References

1 Given by Mr. E. P. Warren of Lewes. I am indebted to the Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum for permission to publish the vase. A small photograph of the interior appeared in Oxford Reports of the University Institutions, 1911, p. 71.

2 Cp. similar figures, on Douris' Vienna cup, Furtw.-Reichhold, liii. (Λ), and on the Brygan piece, Gerhard, , Auserlesene Vasenbilder, 269–70 (Vatican).Google Scholar

3 Cp. Fairbanks, , White Athenian Lekythoi, p. 157Google Scholar, Fig. 39, where a shield leans against the warrior's mantle; against his knee on a Λύκος hydria, Boston (9667 Coolidge); against his spear on a lekythos in Oxford. Cp. F.-R. liii. et alia.

4 Cp. ‘Contest for Aims,’ cylix in B.M., E 69 (Bild u. Lied, p. 213, redrawn Hartwig, , Meisterschalen, p. 359)Google Scholar, and Gerhard, , A.V. Pll. 269–70Google Scholar; also Luynes, , Vases Peints, Pl. XII.Google Scholar; the motive occurs five times in Douris' Vienna cup (F.-R. liv.), twice with the shield on end.

5 For the figure cp. Berlin Gigantomachy, Gerhard, Trinkschalen, x.–xi., and F.-R. xxv. Ilioupersis, etc. It is interesting to find the type among the ‘Melian’ reliefs in the Terracotta Room of the British Museum.

6 Even if we suppose them to be at bay on the altar, the absence of any assailant would make the effect absurdly flat (contrasted, say, with any Ilioupersis); while the representation here is far too purposeful and comprehensive to be a mere excerpt from a completer scene.

7 I know of no other figure where the knee, as here, does not rest on the ground, and the frontal foot continues the line of the upper leg downwards. Possibly it is an attempt to draw a squatting figure with the lower leg bent sharply back at the knee, and supporting the upper leg and thigh. The loop-shaped inner marking would then indicate the bulging muscle of such an attitude.