Kyathos with Beaded Decoration

1 of 2

Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Alternative Title	One-handled Cup with Beaded Decoration
Period	Classical period to Hellenistic
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Etruria
Century	5th-3rd century BCE
Culture	Etruscan
Dimensions	9.7 x 6 cm (3 13/16 x 2 3/8 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

A high-looped cast handle joins the shoulder to the rim of the cup. The hammered bronze body is spool-shaped, wide at the top and bottom, and narrow in the middle. There is a crack at the base of the cup. This piece and examples at the Villa Giulia (1) are decorated with a wide band of guilloche on the shoulder and around the body at the base. Each band of guilloche is flanked by multiple rows of raised dots. There is a beaded row on the vessel’s rim, as well as on the handle itself. The attachment plate of the handle is in the shape of the head of a Silenus, a mythological character associated with Dionysos. 
 
The kyathoi in the Harvard collection are modeled in fashion similar to types from Todi now in the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Rome (2). Shaped by hammering sheet bronze, each kyathos has a flat bottom and a narrow shoulder and neck, which are complimented by its spool-shaped figure. Tall, stylized loop handles appear to be a consistent feature of Etruscan kyathoi. 
 
NOTES:
 
1. See L. Bonfante and F. Roncalli, eds., Antichita dall’Umbria a New York, exh. cat. (Perugia, 1991) 348-50, nos. 8.1-2. Compare also R. De Puma, Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New Haven, 2013) 80 and 145, nos. 4.46 and 5.2a-d; and A. Naso, I bronzi etruschi e italici del Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Altertümer 33 (Mainz, 2003) 74-75, no. 115, fig. 36, pl. 41.
 
2. Bonfante and Roncalli 1991 (supra 1).
 
Nicola Demonte

TechnicalDetails

Chemical Composition

Technical Observations

The patina of 1992.7 is mostly dark red with areas of green and blue. Several areas of bright metal are preserved. The surface is worn from use, obscuring the details of the punched and incised decoration in many areas. Protected areas around and under the handle are much better preserved. Areas of bright metal, especially under the rim, appear to be completely preserved and have no corrosion. There is a 7-mm hole and a 9-mm crack near the bottom edge of the vessel.
 
Hammer marks are visible on much of the interior and under the rim. A 3-mm center punch mark at the bottom indicates 1992.7 was hand raised. The handle on 1992.7 is solid cast. It was attached with a lead solder that is visible where it meets a notch cut into the rim. There is probably solder residue on the other two vessels, but it is obscured by corrosion products and adhesive. The flat, pointed decoration on the handles of 1920.44.2 and 1920.44.101 may have been made by hammering this area down (that is, by cold working), but the handles are otherwise cast. The decorations on 1992.7, including the Silenus attachment plate and other decorations on the handle and on the vessel body, are very worn from use. The face is probably cast, but the beads along the handle appear to have been formed by cold working in a similar manner to those at the rim. The guilloche bands on the body of 1992.7 were made by tracing a fine rounded point over the surface, probably with a lightweight hammer. Pointed punch marks are also part of the pattern. The beaded lines separating the braids were made using punches with a semicircular tip. None of the surface decorations of 1992.7 are visible on the interior. The thickness of its sides ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 mm, and the rim is 3 mm thick at its maximum.
 
Henry Lie (submitted 2002)

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of G. Max Bernheimer