Terracotta Skyphos Attributed to the Brygos Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2009

Terracotta Skyphos (deep drinking cup)
Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 490-480 BC
Attributed to the Brygos Painter
Maenads in rocky landscape

Accession # 29.131.4

The disparate handles increase the manipulability of the cup. The decoration shows two maenads (female followers of Dionysos, god of wine). The one on the obverse plays the flute as the lower border of her garment billows gently; her thyrsos, a fennel stalk crowned with ivy, has been set to one side. The maenad on the reverse bends and stretches vigorously, as indicated by her hair and the extremities of the feline pelt that stream out.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.