Classical World, Etruria, ca. early 6th century BCE. An elegant chalice with a slightly concave bowl and flaring, trumpet-shaped foot with a short, hollow stem. In the interior of the bowl there is a deep groove separating the wide rim from the floor of the bowl. The vase is a lustrous black with a flanged base and three incised grooves around the center of its body. Chalices like this one were wheel-made, with a foot that was thrown separately on the wheel and joined to the rest of the vase as the two pieces began to harden. It was then burnished with a slip and fired in a reducing atmosphere to produce this glossy black color, which is characteristic of the famous Bucchero technique. Size: 6.1" W x 6.45" H (15.5 cm x 16.4 cm)

This type of chalice was common during this period, and seems to have been inspired by Assyrian chalices imported from the Near East a century earlier. This chalice almost certainly came from a funerary context, placed in an opulent Etruscan tomb as an offering. However, it was probably placed there because similar - or maybe even the same - vessels were used in life by the people of Etruria; items placed in the tomb were meant to be a link between the world of the living and the dead, and to help furnish a symbolic domestic space for the deceased. Therefore, it seems likely that chalices like this one were also used in everyday life for drinking wine or other beverages.

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#136239

Repaired from multiple pieces, with thin lines of overpaint along the repairs. Repairs are well done and unobtrusive. Light encrustation in some places, mainly on the interior.