Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Bilingual pottery incorporates both red- and black-figure techniques into the decoration of a single vessel, and this cup is an early example of this unusual type. Black-figure is dominant and is used, along with a liberal use of added color, on the exterior: grape vines with clusters of fruit fill the space between two large eyes, and beneath the handles, two female figures (possibly gorgons) run around the cup. The interior of the cup is largely covered with a black glaze that surrounds a gorgon head within a central medallion. The red-figure technique is used to depict the face, although areas of black are used for the hair and beard and are still incised in the black-figure manner. Added white enlivens the eyes and adds to the remarkably dramatic effect of this small head.