Skyphos with black figures. Greek art, Attica, 510 B.C. FP Group

ATTIC BLACK FIGURE SKYPHOS
Attributed to Group FP (Flowers and Palmettes)
Greek art, Attica, 510 B.C.

Black glazed orange clay with red paint highlights
L. : 24.5 cm.
Old restorations (probably 19th c.)

Provenance : Former collection F. Antonovitch, Paris

Bibliography : Unpublished

The skyphos, like the kylix, is a drinking vessel used by the guests during banquets. Wine was drunk from the craters mixed with water. The high walls of the vase are each decorated with an ephebe between two large palmettes. The decoration is executed here in the archaic technique of the black figure, leaving it to the artist to specify the details with incisions and highlights of red paint. The dense, metallized black glaze contrasting with the orange background of the Attic clay, makes this example an excellent example of the FP group (Flowers and palmettes), attested at the end of the 6th century BC.