Terracotta kantharos (drinking cup with vertical handles) 475 BC

Curator: Welcome. Before us is a terracotta kantharos, a drinking cup crafted around 475 BC. It's currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: It strikes me immediately with its contrast—the glossy black ground against the warm terracotta figures. It evokes a sense of formality, almost ceremony. Curator: Indeed. Kantharoi, like this, were common in ancient Greece and were often associated with Dionysus, the god of wine. It's interesting to consider its ritualistic applications in practices like feasting. Editor: When you bring up the material—terracotta—it makes me think about the labor involved. Each one of these required not just artistic skill in forming the vessel but the knowledge of the earth itself, controlling the kilns and ensuring a vitrified and non-porous surface to make a good receptacle for drink. Curator: Absolutely, there is a profound connection between craft and intention here, and the maker's role is often considered anonymously. And note the intricate narrative unfolding in the red-figure technique, using diluted clay slip. Editor: How was such refinement achieved by individual artisans and studios without standardized measurements? It's so exact and perfect. It almost makes me reconsider our contemporary conceptions of “high art”. What can it say about the division of labor at the time of making? Curator: A sharp inquiry, undoubtedly. Notice too how the seated figure integrates harmoniously within the cup's contours. Its shape serves to enhance the figure and gives the piece dynamic potential. Editor: A mundane but necessary object in day-to-day use that could be a site for artistry—that in itself raises compelling ideas about what’s worth preserving across eras. This cup is truly both mundane and transcendent. Curator: It makes you think—what stories this drinking cup could tell. Perhaps even more intriguingly, it begs the question: What kind of drink was best enjoyed from a vessel such as this? Editor: I can't help but marvel at what stories this seemingly simple cup reveals about the interconnectedness of ancient Greek material culture and art. The relationship to material practices and social lives becomes so vivid!