Attic Red-Figure Cup

Dancing revelers decorate this Athenian red-figure cup. On the interior, a youth, naked except for a wreath in his hair and a short cloak over one arm, dances and flourishes his staff, a marker of the Athenian leisured class. This lone figure finds his companions in the ten other youths encircling the exterior of the cup. These similarly outfitted youths stride and step in an energetic dance, or perhaps emulate fighting postures.

This cup is unusual in that the interior is covered in “coral-red” This intentional red color, much brighter than the normal reddish color of Athenian clay, was achieved either by using a subtly different clay or firing the vase more than once. The red is prone to flaking, and the technique proved to be short-lived, limited to a few workshops with the technical know-how.