Antiquities and Pre-Columbian Art: Expressions of the Past

Provenance:

N. Koutoulakis (1910-1996), Geneva.

N. Zoullas, New York, acquired from the above in 1987.

Christie's, New York, Antiquities, 25 October 2017, Lot 81.

This striking Attic bilingual eye-cup is attributed to the vase-painter Pheidippos, as identified by the renowned expert Robert Guy (1949-2020). Pheidippos is known from a signed cup in the British Museum, inscribed 'Pheidippos egrapse' (Pheidippos painted it), alongside the signature of the potter Hischylos, 'Hischylos epoiesen' (Hischylos made it). He appears to have worked closely with Hischylos and was a companion of the young Epiktetos. Pheidippos often incorporated red-figure and black-figure techniques, as seen in the bilingual design of this cup, which reflects the transitional period in Athenian pottery. The beardless nude youths between the eyes and in the tondo are athletes. They are identified as long jumpers by the stone or halteres (lead weights) they carry, believed to extend one's distance when swung forward during a jump.