A Black-Figure Proto-A Type Cup
Attic, ca. 540 B.C.
Clay
Height: 13.3 cm
Diameter: 21.4 cm (mouth)
Diameter: 8.7 cm (foot)
Price on Request
Net for Export
A deep cup on a high foot. The handle zone is decorated with a frieze of six hoplites on either side. Beneath each handle is a swan facing right. Below runs a frieze of alternating upright lotus buds and lotus flowers. The interior has a reserved tondo, with a central circle enclosing a dot. Added white paint. In the manner of Lydos (attribution by B. Kreuzer/ P. Heesen). Reassembled from fragments; minor losses in the bowl interior restored.
PROVENANCE
Formerly priv. coll. Prof. Martin Heinrich Burckhardt (b. 1973 - d. 1997), Basel; acquired in 1980 at KAM from Münzen und Medaillen AG, Basel (see KAM fair list, 14.-22.06.1980, lot 80).
NOTE
Cf. the Lydos cup from the Athenian Kerameikos for the shape and decoration (ornamental band, here likewise with lotus buds, though with three lines, and a figured frieze, here depicting mourners): ABV 113, 81; W. Kraiker, AM 59, 1934, pl. 1, suppl. pl. 1; M. Tiverios, O Lydos kai to ergo tou (1976), pls. 43–44. For the Proto-A type cup, cf. a cup by a painter closely associated with Lydos in Athens, NM 445: CVA Athens 3, pl. 49. Although it has a shallower bowl and a less pronounced lip, it shares the high foot, secondary ornament, and a water bird beneath the handle (with reference there to two Siana cups by Lydos in Taranto, 20129 and 20137: ABV 113, 70 and 112, 65; Tiverios, op. cit., pls. 33–34, likewise with files of warriors). For the continuous wall profile, compare Type A cups, although their bowls rest on a lower stem, e.g. Bochum S 14: CVA Bochum 1, pl. 58. The height and shape of the foot correspond to those of Little-Master cups; for examples see CVA Munich 10 and 11. Lydos decorated several Siana cups with a procession of (running) warriors: Tiverios, op. cit., pl. 34. Particularly close is the example in Göttingen (ibid., pl. 34b), although the shields there each have only a single incised line along the rim.






