Skyphos
| Skyphos | |
|---|---|
 Emperor Tiberius's triumph. Silverskyphoswith repoussé decoration, late 1st century BC–early 1st century AD. From the villa della Pisanella at Boscoreale, 1895. Below: Atticskyphosdepicting ahoplite,c. 490–480 BC | |
 | |
| Material | Ceramic, glass, precious metals |
| Created | Multiple cultures, originating predominantly in Greece and exported. |
| Period/culture | A vaseform of theIron Age |
| Place | Circum-Mediterranean |
Askyphos(Ancient Greek:σκύφος;pl.:skyphoi) is a two-handled deep wine-cup on a low flanged base or none. The handles may be horizontal ear-shaped thumbholds that project from the rim (in bothCorinthianandAthenianshapes), or they may be loop handles at the rim or that stand away from the lower part of the body.Skyphoiof the type calledglaux(owl) have one horizontal and one vertical thumbhold handle.
Examples
[edit]Earlyskyphoiwere made during theGeometric period.Corinth set the conventions that Athens followed. Over a long period the shape remained the same while the style of decoration changed.
Skyphoiwere also made of precious metals, generally silver and gold leaf, many examples exist. One possible, well-preserved example is theWarren cup,[note 1]an ovoidscyphusmade of silver, as described byJohn Pollini.[1]ARomanskyphosofcameo glasscan be seen at theGetty Museum.
Comparable forms of a handled drinking cup on a base included:
- Cotyla,a more generic term for any cup.
- Kantharos
- Komast cup
- Kylix
Modern uses
[edit]The word "skyphos"has been adopted for the purposes ofbiological classificationwith regard tojellyfish,which are included in the classScyphozoa(literally "cup-shaped animal" ), andSarcoscypha,the scarlet cup fungus.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^In his notes,John Pollinistates that uncertainty about the correct name of many ancient drinking vessels exists, however he refers to the object with the "established classificatory term scyphus", Specifically "half-oval variety of scyphus of the calix type". He cites as the "principal work" for such classifacation as: Werner Hilgers, Lateinische Gefassnamen: Bezeichnungen, Funktion und Form romischer Gefasse nach den antiken Schriftquellen, Beiheft der Bonner Jahrbucher, vol. 31 (Dusseldorf: Rheinland-Verlag, 1969). "More recently:" Stefanelli, 119-24, figs. 84-86.
References
[edit]- ^Pollini, John (March 1999)."The Warren Cup: homoerotic love and symposial rhetoric in silver".The Art Bulletin.LXXXI(1).Retrieved20 June2012.
External links
[edit]- SkyphoiArchived2018-03-17 at theWayback Machine
- PerseusEncyclopedia:skyphos
