A wide cup with large handles on either side and a low foot.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

This wide, bowl like cup has a smooth, almost black finish and lightly incised decorative lines on its side. Its flat wall tapers inward slightly, its bottom edge rimmed with small repeating triangular forms. Below, a short stem at the cup’s center, widens to a flat, circular base. Large, ear-shaped handles at either side rise up from the top rim of the cup, before curving out and back down to join at the bottom rim. On the side is a motif of dotted, incised lines in the form of open fans. A row of smaller, closed fans appears above them.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1945.3
Title
Kantharos
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 625 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Etruria
Period
Orientalizing period
Culture
Etruscan
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/291600

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Wheel-made
Dimensions
9 cm h x 16.5 diam. cm (3 9/16 x 6 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Roger Noble Burnham, Los Angeles, California, (by 1917), gift; to The Fogg Art Museum.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mr. Roger Noble Burnham
Accession Year
1945
Object Number
1945.3
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Dark gray, burnished, matte finish. Relatively low foot with a thick trunk. Underside of kantharos is smooth. Ribbed (or notched) carination at join with body produces pyramidal projections. Walls rise tautly and flare slightly from the point of carination. Vertical strap handles join to body at carination and lip. Decoration consists of a series of semi-circular fans with a line of vertical fans above. Three finely incised lines at lip.
Commentary
Re-View Exhibition, Spring 2008, gallery label information:

Kantharos
Etruscan, c. 625 BCE
Terracotta
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Roger Noble Burnham, 1945.3

A distinctively Etruscan product, bucchero pottery is shiny black or gray; the shapes and ornament often imitate metalware. In Greece the kantharos, a drinking cup with two vertical handles, became an attribute of the wine god Dionysos. (See no. 13 in the coin case to the right.)

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S422 Ancient & Byzantine Art & Numismatics, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/12/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/20/2018 - 02/05/2019
  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/28/2023 - 05/07/2023

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu