Detail of a Kylix with a Man Painting a Head by the Ambrosios Painter in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, January 2018

Drinking cup (kylix) with an artist painting a head
the Ambrosios Painter
Greek
Late Archaic Period
about 510 B.C.

Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens

Medium/Technique: Ceramic, Red Figure

Dimensions: Height x width: 2 15/16 x 9 5/8 in. (7.5 x 24.4 cm)

Credit Line: Helen and Alice Colburn Fund

Accession Number: 68.292

Collections: Ancient Greece and Rome

Classifications: Vessels

Description: A young sculptor or apprentice in a workshop paints a small male head - behind him on a shelf a similar head, already painted, has been set to dry. These clay heads are most likely meant to be plastic (molded) vessels, such as drinking cups or oil flasks in the shape of heads, which are common. The exterior is undecorated.

Condition: burned gray. Fragmentary.

Provenance: By 1968: with Robert E. Hecht, Jr.; purchased by MFA from Robert E. Hecht, Jr., June 12, 1968


Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/187/drinking-cup-kylix-with-an-artist-painting-a-head