Detail of a Man Reclining in the Tondo of a Terracotta Kylix by an Artist Near the Kleophrades Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2007

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)
Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 500 BC
Attributed to an artist near the Kleophrades Painter
Interior: symposiast (participant in drinking party)

Accession # 56.171.62

Known chiefly for his work on pots, the Kleophrades Painter is also associated with kylikes both early and late in his career. The man depicted here holds a cup, presumably filled with wine, in his left hand. With the cup in his right hand, he plays kottabos- an after-dinner past-time in which symposiasts (participants in a drinking party) knocked the finials off lamp stands with the lees remaining in their kylikes.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.