The Menil Collection The Menil Collection

The black surface and gray core of this vase identify it as bucchero, a distinctive class of Etruscan ceramics. Etruscan bucchero may have imitated other vessels produced in metal, and the silver added to the surface of this piece, still visible in small patches, would have given it a metal appearance. The shape, which has a flaring rim, hemispherical bowl, horizontal handles, and trumpet-like foot, was produced in the late 7th to early 6th century BCE. Functioning as a cup, vessels such as this were commonly used in funerary banquets. No archaeological provenience (findspot) is known for this piece, but the dealer’s documents state it came from Cerveteri, Italy, along with another cup in the collection (CA 6559). Stylistically it is similar to products of the region, although the shape of the cup is known from other sites.