Robert Egert

Attic lip-cup

This lip cup dates from approximately 550 B.C. and was produced in Athens and appears to be complete. The motif of the swan typically refers to Zeus. I was struck by the simplicity of the composition, the sophistication of the swan and the elegance of the overall form. Like most Athenian pottery it is remarkably light in weight for its size.

Lip cups like this, with very small paintings in the center of the lip midway between the handles, are also called little master cups. Its common for little master cups to feature small human profile images, mythic creatures, (for example, swans, satyrs, etc.) on each side of the cup. They also often have inscriptions. Sometimes the inscriptions will include the painter's name, other times it will be a toast, and other times it will be nonsense letters. This one appears to be the later type. I suppose the style of inscribing one's cups was more popular than the ability to read.

It has been suggested that this piece is by the painter Taleides. This is based upon the shape of the cup an the treatment of the palmettes. Previously it was thought to be by Tleson, based upon a misreading of the inscription. (There's a cup with a very similar swan painting in the Warsaw Museum attributed to Tleson son of Nearchos and documented in the Beazley Archive.)