kylix
- Museum number
- 1864,1007.77
- Description
-
Pottery: White-ground kylix (drinking-cup) with Aphrodite riding on a goose, the curling tendril of a plant held in her outstretched hand. The figures are outlined against the white background, with the inner details added in golden-brown glaze; purplish-red clay is used for the goddess's cloak and for the borders of her chiton (tunic).
The painter's preliminary sketch is visible in places; the position and form of the tendril held by the goddess have been slightly altered from the original sketch, as have the outlines of the longest feathers on the end of each of the goose's wings.
- Production date
- 460BC (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 24.10 centimetres
-
Height: 10.75 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Attributed to Fikellura grave 43, based on evidence from Biliotti's Kamiros diary, Kamiros tomb list, British Museum register, departmental Kamiros index card. Description in Biliotti's Kamiros diary: Cylix late foot elegant shape good black glaze fine paste inside white varnish on which painted in brick colour Venus seated on a swan flying with her arm over its neck holding a flower in her right hand. Behind her head there is written in small characters [Aphrodites] (1 entire). No marking of grave number visible on the object itself.
Attributions to find-spots are based on (1) Alfred Biliotti’s diary kept during excavations at Kamiros between November 1863 and June 1864, which records the contents of two votive deposits and over 300 graves; (2) entries in the Museum Register, often stipulating the find-spots of individual objects excavated by Biliotti; (3) the Kamiros tomb list, produced around the same time as his entries in the Museum Register. It lists the contents of each grave and votive deposit, along with their corresponding registration numbers; (4) the Kamiros index cards, written by Donald Bailey in the 1960’s. These mainly record the contents of graves from the Fikellura cemetery and are organised according to tomb group. All archives are kept in the Department of Greece and Rome. In addition, Reynold Higgins’ Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1954) has been checked for attributions to the Fikellura cemetery.
- Location
- On display (G15/dc7)
- Acquisition date
- 1864
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1864,1007.77
