Detail of a Kylix by Onesimos with Wrestlers and Figures in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, July 2011

Drinking cup (kylix) depicting athletic combats

Onesimos

Greek

Late Archaic Period

about 490-480 B.C.

Medium/Technique Ceramic, Red Figure

Dimensions Height: 10.7 cm (4 3/16 in.);

Diameter (without handles): 24.2 cm (9 1/2 in.)

Credit Line Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund

Accession Number: 1972.44
Collections: Ancient Greece and Rome

Classifications: Vessels

Description

Side A: the pancration: two youths wrestling between trainers, one on left seated frontally next to a prize cauldron on a column. On right, a boy.
Inscribed: "Panaitios is handsome" ("PANAITIOS KALOS)

Side B: boxers: two youths, one on left with head frontal. To left, trainer; to right, boy. In field, mattocks, discus bag, jumping weights. "Lykos is handsome" (LUKOS KALOS), "Handsome" (on discus bag) (KALOS)

Interior: youth with hare (bending to right, head frontal). He wears a cloak (himation) draped around his shoulders; his walking stick is resting nearby. The picture is labeled "The boy is handsome" (HO PAIS KALOS).

Condition: Mended with slight restoration.
InscriptionsInscribed: "Panaitios is handsome"(PANAITIOS KALOS), "Lykos is handsome" (LUKOS KALOS), "Handsome" (KALOS) (on discus bag, exterior), "The boy is handsome" (HO PAIS KALOS) (interior)
ProvenanceBy 1963: according to ARV, 2nd ed., p. 322, no. 37: Swiss Private; by 1972: with Dr. Leo Mildenberg, Bank Leu & Co., A.G., Bahnhofstrasse 12, Zurich, Switzerland (as ex Moretti Collection); purchased by MFA from Dr. Leo Mildenberg, February 9, 1972.

Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/153754/drinking-cup-kylix-depicting-athletic-combats