Frank Collection (Moon No. 59)
Attic Black-Figure Eye-Cup Unattributed ca. 520 B.C. Lent by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Frank, through the courtesy of the Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Purchased from the Summa Galleries, Inc. The Vase: h. 10.9 cm; w. 35.5 cm; d. at rim 28.2 cm; d. foot 10.6 cm. Mended from a few large fragments; applied color rich and clear; some abrasion of glaze on handles. Clay is dark red-orange. Resting surface of foot is reserved, inside of cone glazed. Inside of handles reserved, so too the exterior edge of foot. Inner edge of lip has thin reserved stripe and others, alternating with black, encircle the tondo design. Three thin lines in dilute serve as groundline for the eye-figure scene and three more are at the outer edge of the zone of rays. There are twenty rays in outline, twenty in black; these alternate except in one place — under the left "eye" on Side A, where two outline rays appear side by side. A raised fillet in reserve marks the join of the base to the bowl and beneath the fillet, an incised line. Color of clay heightened by use of red wash. Decoration: Sides A and B are nearly identical: Between "eyes," Athena strides left and brandishes her spear seemingly with her left hand; her shield (device on A: human leg and thigh; on B: a snake) seems suspended in midair, obviously not held by the warrior who approaches. Athena wears the high-crested Athenian helmet and peplos, which is incised with stars. There are three loops in dilute glaze on the goddess's back. Behind her goes Hermes, walking right but turning back, and he wears the petasos and winged boots, chiton and chlamys. The angle of his kerykeion, the staff, and the action of his holding it are not well rendered, on either side of the vase. On Side B Hermes wears only the chlamys. On A and B, a warrior, wearing Corinthian helmet, thorax, greaves and chitoniskos but without other arms is accompanied by a child, and both seem to be supplicating the goddess. The child, dressed in short chiton and chlamys, appears to be kneeling on his right knee. Grape vines and bunches of grapes at the handles. Added red: perimeter of shields and second ring and centers of eyes; stripe on wreathes of both helmets and for the brim of Hermes' hat; Hermes' beard and stripes on chlamys. Added white: shield devices, outer "eye," dots on warriors' crest-bands; on Side A only, minuscule dots on Hermes' belt and in a band around Hermes' neck; a patch covering thumb and index finger of warrior's right hand; on Side B, the crown of Hermes' traveling hat. Interior: Gorgon, Added red: alternating rolls of hair on forehead, tongue. Figures now stand between the "eyes," and not grouped at the handles (see Champaign 70.8.1), as was the case with earlier "Exekian" eye-cups. This vase then represents a later stage in the development of the eye-cup in Attica. Because the grape-vines are still neatly confined to the handle area — later they will invade the figural scene — and because of the design of the "eyes" themselves — with pointed tear gland and pointed upper, outer corners — a date c. 520 or very slightly earlier seems best. As Professor Beth Cohen informs us, this vase nearly coincides with the earliest red-figure eye-cups which have pointed corners (Florence 3 B 12: ARV2, 38, no. 7 and Louvre F 127 ter: ARV2, 41, no. 29), and most earlier eye-cups have compact tear glands (Vatican 498: ARV2, 43, no. 74 and Würzburg L 468: ARV2, 45, no. 105 and ARV2, 39; see also B. Cohen 1978, pp. 260, 275, 280, and 306). The tear gland on this Wisconsin cup is becoming attenuated, as will very much be the case on the next generation of "eyes"; the outer upper corners, however, become rounded, as one sees on the bilingual eye-cup at Toledo (see Toledo 1963.28). Rays decorate the area above the stem; later these will be replaced by concentric bands. The Madison cup has a well-developed bowl, broad and shallow, which sits on a stocky stem. It may very well have been potted in the Andokides workshop which characteristically made a bowl with an expansive bottom which begins to curve up gradually from the stem and then makes a sudden, sharp ascent to the rim (Bloesch 1940, 13-14). The Nikosthenic workshop also produced eye-cups which are often confused with those of Andokides because each pottery imitated the other. But the latter most often have a greater feeling of depth to the bowl and seem more rounded. The handles of the Andokides group are set low to accentuate the gentle curve of the bowl. The base of this cup has a rather thick foot-plate which flows into the stem in an abrupt curve. This too is another characteristic of the Andokides workshop as it produced this shape. The most confounding aspect of this cup at Madison is the iconography. Though the warrior's body is protected with armor, he bears no arms; his gesture with upraised left hand is better described as one of greeting or entreaty and not one of threat. Likewise the child seems to be on bended knee. Professor A. E. Raubitschek, informally, has provided us with possibilities. The figure of Athena could very well be the Panathenaic Athena Polias on the Acropolis of Athens (see Moon 1979, no. 32, Anonymous (Moon No. 32)), and he cites Zanker 1965, 65-70, where depictions such as the Athena on this cup are assumed to be pictures of statues: "Could this be Ascanias and his father (without grandfather) led by Hermes out of Troy — by way of the Palladium?" For a discussion of the appearance of the statue of Athena Polias on vases other than Panathenaics: von Bothmer 1952-1954, 52-56, especially 55. One notes that the Athena Polias on the Panathenaic neck-amphora by the Princeton Painter at the Metropolitan Museum (New York 53.11.1: ABV, 298, no. 5) has the same three loops at her back as one sees on this eye-cup; the snakes' heads at the end of each loop are clearly depicted on that vase. The artist on the Franks' cup abstracted these and left out other features of the aegis.1(unpublished) W.G.M.