This black-figure cup at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore shows combat between two warriors has a very special shape: it is a mastoid skyphos, taking its name from the Greek word ‘mastos’ (breast). It was a shape popular only for a few decades in the second half of the 6th century B.C.
Almost impossibly delicate walls taper down to a point that was most certainly meant to resemble a nipple (purely decorative – wine needed to be sipped from the rim). The decoration heightens this effect with the plastically rendered nipple left in reserve with a complicated aureole composed of a motif of alternating black and red tongues.
And the point was, well, to titillate the drinker holding it: he would have had to cup it in one hand with that nipply point likely protruding between his fingers. Once full of wine, the vase would be impossible to put down – the holder would be forced to drain it rather quickly (unbecoming) or continue to fondle his peculiar vase. A conundrum! And a brilliant use of visual humor in potting.
