Cleveland Museum of Art

Red-Figure Eye Cup: Warriors (A), Musician and Youths (B)

Date

c. 520 BCE

Medium

ceramic

Culture

Greek, Attic

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Red-figure eye cups, like their more common black-figure brethren (including one in Cleveland ), feature two large eyes on either side, producing a masking effect for drinkers. Typically, palmettes flank the eyes, with either a nose or figure at center. Here, the innovative painter Psiax, who worked in both black-figure and red-figure, moved the palmettes to the tondo and created three-figure compositions on each exterior side: two warriors converging on a fallen comrade (or enemy); and a youth playing a cithara for an audience of two. The experimental nature of early red-figure may explain the unusual spear and awkwardly twisted torso and lower leg of the central warrior. The fallen warrior’s spear is done with added clay (shaft) and incision (head), not red-figure.

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