Getty Museum

Bowl

Date

2nd century B.C.

Medium

Silver with gilding

Culture

Greek

Department

Vessels

Institution

Getty Museum

Unlike most Greek drinking bowls made from precious metals, which are decorated on the outside, this conical bowl with a rounded bottom has bands of engraved and gilded ornament on the interior. At the rim, there is a rounded convex molding with an incised wave pattern just below it. A larger, convex molding further down the interior is incised with a wreath and framed with incised wave patterns. This bound wreath formed of crosshatched and leafy sections separated by vertical bands is a favorite motif in Hellenistic art, especially on metalwork. All these moldings and patterned areas are gilded. The outside of the bowl is completely plain. The distinctive feature of this bowl and others like it found distributed throughout the Hellenistic world is the use of the interior moldings rather than merely incising decoration on the flat silver surface. Ornate silver vessels, both serving utensils and drinking bowls like this one, were part of the household equipment of the Hellenistic elite. Used at symposia or aristocratic drinking parties, these expensive vessels displayed the wealth of the owner. For people who wanted to emulate this lifestyle, but could not afford silver vessels, less expensive versions of conical bowls like this one were made in terracotta.

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