Detail of a Kylix with a Boy Fishing by the Ambrosios Painter in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, January 2018

Drinking cup (kylix) with youth fishing

the Ambrosios Painter

Greek

Late Archaic Period

about 510–500 B.C.

Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens

Medium/Technique: Ceramic, Red Figure

Dimensions: Height: 11.2 cm (4 7/16 in.); diameter: 27.7 cm (10 7/8 in.)

Credit Line: Henry Lillie Pierce Fund

Accession Number: 01.8024

Collections: Ancient Greece and Rome

Classifications: Vessels


Description: Cup Interior tondo composition: A small nude boy is fishing as he crouches on a rocky ledge. He holds a woven bag in his left hand, and has a fish on the line. There is also a trap, shown under water, probably for the octopus hiding behind the rock. Above are the Greek letters: "P" "A" "S".
Exterior: Both sides show drunken satyrs cavorting. On one side, the satyr on the left holds aloft an amphora, while the one on the right balances a high-handled cup (kantharos) on his phallus. Above is the Greek inscription KR[A]TES ELE[--]O, which may refer to the action of one of the satyrs, who is named Krates. On the other side two satyrs dance. The one on the right holds a drinking horn (rhyton). Above is an inscription which appears to say: E[-]KEA[-]SE, too fragmentary to decipher.

Inscriptions: Interior: letters Π, Α, S.
A: ΚΡΑΤΕSΕLΕΟ
B: ΕΑΚΕΑSΕ

Provenance: By date unknown: Alfred Bourguignon Collection; by 1901: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: Bought privately from the collection of Alfred Bourguignon.); purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren, December 1901

Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/153702/drinking-cup-kylix-with-youth-fishing