Fluted Chalice
about 550 B.C.
The chalice is made of "bucchero pesante" (heavy bucchero) and bears no incised or relief decoration. The undulating shape of the bowl is formed by seventeen convex flutes; vertical channels between each flute are clearly delineated on the exterior. Below is a sharp, unnotched carination, a pronounced ring at the top of a pedestal foot, and two more rings separated by a deep groove. The foot is trumpet-shaped.
Tall chalices with fluted bowls are found at numerous Etruscan sites during the first half of the 6th century, and this example was probably produced in a pottery workshop in Vulci. Fine bucchero often mimics the shapes of costly silver and bronze tableware, and some pieces were even overlaid with silver leaf. This elegant cup’s thin-walled, undulating flutes and tall foot with contoured rings are stylistic features shared by cast and hammered metal vessels.
Tall chalices with fluted bowls are found at numerous Etruscan sites during the first half of the 6th century, and this example was probably produced in a pottery workshop in Vulci. Fine bucchero often mimics the shapes of costly silver and bronze tableware, and some pieces were even overlaid with silver leaf. This elegant cup’s thin-walled, undulating flutes and tall foot with contoured rings are stylistic features shared by cast and hammered metal vessels.
Images courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)