• m10-att-54-1
    Profile view; color. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-10
    Profile view; color. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-20
    Attic black-figure Merrythought cup. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-30
    Profile view; color. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-40
    Profile view; color. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-50
    Profile view; color. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-70
    Profile view. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-80
    Detail of warriors. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-90
    Detail of warriors. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-100
    Detail of warriors. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-110
    Side B: hunt for the Calydonian boar (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-120
    Side B: hunt for the Calydonian boar, detail (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-130
    Side B: hunt for the Calydonian boar, detail (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-140
    Side profile view. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-150
    View of figure under wishbone handle. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-160
    Side profile view. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-170
    Detail of figure under wishbone handle. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-180
    Interior. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-190
    View of tondo. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-200
    Drawing: profile. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-210
    Drawing: Side A. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-220
    Drawing: Side B. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-230
    Drawing: tondo. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m10-att-54-240
    Drawing: handle. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Attic Black Figure Merrythought Cup

Date
Ca. 550 BC, Lydian
Museum
Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, 2137
Museum Inventory No.
2137
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
P60.599
Material
Ceramic
Object Type
Pottery
Pottery Shape
Merrythought Cup
Pottery Ware
Attic Black Figure
Pottery Attribution
Painter of the Sardis Merrythought Cup
Inscription Text

Exterior:

ΧΑΙΡΕΚΑΙΠ[ΙΕ                    Η]ΥΣ 

Interior: ΙΝΟ[ at his left, and nine letters at the right, which probably represent a garbled ΕΠΟΙΕΣΕΝ

Inscription Translation
Inscription Comment
Site
Sardis
Sector
AC
Trench
AcT
B-Grid Coordinates
ca. *402.1
Findspot
trench A, 2/J--K; in a pocket of earth above conglomerate
Description

Restored. The seventy fragments of the cup include most of the bowl and both wishbone handles, but only one of the handle knobs. Neither the stem nor foot was preserved. The restoration, conducted in 1980 and 1981, replaces all missing parts based on similar merrythought cups.

Side A: a battle scene, composed of five warriors (1--5) attacking from the left and two (6 and 7) from the right. In front of this battle line lies a fallen warrior (9), who is supported at head and foot by a crouching warrior (8 and 10). At the far right a separate battle takes place between two men who are naked (11 and 12), but who carry arms and wear helmets; that of the warrior at the far right (12) is unusual in its decoration of ox horns and ears. All other warriors have low-crested Corinthian helmets which are adorned with white dots down the nose guard and on the forehead, crest holder, and cheek-piece. Most of the helmets are purple; three are black. The crests are in black, purple, or purple and white; one has incised striations. Three of the round shield devices are visible: at the center (6), a bull's head; on the shield second from left (2), a partially seen bull's head; and on the shield of the crouching warrior at the right (10), a twelve-petalled rosette. The other shields, of which the inner sides are shown, have white armbands against purple backgrounds. Two of the men wear white corselets (one with an incised V design at the neck), which may be intended to represent leather corselets, with flaps at the bottom; others wear short chitons, some decorated with white dots at the borders, one with black stripes on the purple, and one with a white-dotted tuck at the bottom edge.

Side B: the Calydonian boar hunt is shown, with two hunters attacking from the left and two from the right, with Atalanta between the latter. The black boar in the center is also attacked by a white dog which has leapt upon its back. A spear has already been plunged in its haunches, as shown by a purple spot of blood. The hunters carry spears, except the one at the far right who holds a trident, part of which is preserved above Atalanta's head. Each wears a white-dotted baldric with a sword and carries a chlamys over the left arm. Atalanta is running forward, as seen by her preserved head, left shoulder, and foot. She wears a purple three-dotted earring, fillet, and sleeve, and a black skirt with a double-line border. An inscription below the rim reads:

ΧΑΙΡΕΚΑΙΠ[ΙΕ                    Η]ΥΣ 
”Drink and be merry” “Boar”

Below the figured scenes is a ribbon pattern reserved on a black band, which is framed by three concentric lines at top and bottom; rays spread up from the base. Under each handle is a man walking right, with his hand raised in greeting, and wearing a tunic and embroidered chlamys.

Purple is used for the flat top of the rim, the upper edge of the handle straps, and the top surface of the handle knobs. The handle straps are decorated on the outside with four panels which are separated by vertical lines and zigzags. The panels consist of alternating stars and chevrons.

Interior: the tondo shows a running nude male, with only buttock and legs preserved. He was carrying something such as a sword or wineskin, indicated by a small purple spot to his right. An inscription encircling him has the letters ΙΝΟ[ at his left, and nine letters at the right, which probably represent a garbled ΕΠΟΙΕΣΕΝ. Within the reserved area of the tondo, and surrounding the figure, are two sets of four black concentric circles with alternating purple and black tongues and tiny white dots between the tips. Four thin red lines encircling the tondo contrast with the purple used on this cup.

By the Painter of the Sardis Merrythought Cup, whose style resembles that of the Painter of the Boston Polyphemus (D. von Bothmer, personal communication). Joan Haldenstein puts the piece closer to the Painter of the Boston C.A. and places it in the Phrynos workshop.

This cup is the most spectacular piece of Attic pottery found at Sardis and is representative of the high quality of imports around the middle of the sixth century. It is one of only nine Attic pieces from the Acropolis.

Dimensions
H. of bowl 0.065; diam. of bowl 0.175; Th. 0.002--0.003.
Comments
See Also
See also: LATW Cat. 104
Bibliography
Published: N. H. Ramage, “A Merrythought Cup from Sardis,” 453--60; Hanfmann, SPRT 44, 107, fig. 77 (with reference to previous publications, 228, n. 25). For the Painter of the Boston Polyphemus, ABV198--99, and M. True, CVA Boston MFA 2, 30--32, pl. 88. See now J. Haldenstein, "Four Attic Black-Figure Cups at the Elvehjem," Bulletin/Annual Report: Elvehjem Museum of Art (1989--1991) 12, n. 22. For the Calydonian boar hunt, see G. Daltrop, Die kalydonische Jagd in der Antike (Hamburg 1966); F. Brommer, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage 310--12; and A. Schnapp, "Images et programme: les figurations archaïques de la chasse au sanglier," RA 1979, 195--218. Lydians and Their World, cat. 104.
Author
NHR