Miniature Calyx Crater

item details

NameMiniature Calyx Crater

ProductionUnknown; 400 BCE-375 BCE; Greece

Classificationceramics, vessels, two-handled cups, cups

Materialsceramic

Materials Summarypottery, red figure decoration

DimensionsOverall: 160mm (width), 152mm (height), 152mm (depth)

Registration NumberCG000037

Credit lineGift of Mrs G.L. Tacon, 1935

Overview

Stories in red and black

The art of the Greeks, of the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived in other times, is not an art of the past – perhaps it is more alive today than it ever was.

Pablo Picasso

There’s no mistaking the similarities between Picasso’s jug and the ancient Greek pottery alongside it in this exhibition. Created more than 2,000 years apart, they share a key ingredient: an image that tells a story in striking red and black clay.

Picasso adorned this jug with a scene from a Spanish bullfight. The picador, the matador’s mounted assistant, advances towards the bull, who eyes him from the other side of the jug.

Picasso designed thousands of ceramics late in life. His unabashed aim was to reach as broad an audience as possible. By contrast, Greek red-and-black pottery was made for the elite.