Detail of a Kylix with a Satyr on a Wineskin by Epiktetos in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, June 2010

Drinking cup (kylix) with satyr

510–500 B.C.

Epiktetos

Dimensions: Height: 7.6 cm (3 in.); diameter 18.7 cm (7 3/8 in.)

Accession Number: 95.34

Medium or Technique: Ceramic, Red Figure

Interior: A nude, ithyphallic satyr sits on a wine-skin, and holds a drinking horn (rhyton) in his left hand. He wears a wreath of ivy leaves painted in purple.

A Greek inscription in the field reads: "Hipparchos is handsome" (HIPPARXOS KALOS). On the wine-skin, in brown paint is an inscription of the same name: "HIPPARXOS."

The satyr is here engaged in a game called 'askoliasmos', derived from the Greek word for wineskin, 'askos', which invovled jumping on a blown up wineskin that was greased with oil and trying to hold one’s balance.

Inscription: In the field: "Hipparchos is handsome" (HIPPARXOS KALOS). On the wine-skin, in brown, HIPPLOXO Interior: ΗΙΠΠΑΡΧΟSΚΑLΟS On the wine skin: ΗΙΠΠAPΧΟΣ

Provenance: By 1892: A. van Branteghem Collection (sold at Hotel Drouot auction, Paris, May 30 - June 1, lot 38; said to be from Italy); by 1894: with Edward Perry Warren; 1895: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren for $ 29,857.37 (this figure is the total price for MFA 95.9-95.174)

Credit Line: Catharine Page Perkins Fund

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/drinking-cup-kylix-with-satyr-153679