Fragments of two separate cups in white-ground were found in the grand sanctuary to Demeter at Eleusis and this one is small but it’s a stunner.
With that jutting beard and imperious bearing, the man painted in the interior could be any number of gods or heroes save for the scales that begin under his pectorals, which would have continued into a fishy tail down below. He is a triton, and one with aplomb and a fantastic if somewhat droopy anemone crown. Some have seen a leaping dolphin with a staring eye behind him, but so very little remains. (The drawing is insanely good throughout…check out his collarbones!)
Cups in white-ground weren’t practical for mortals, as the added white slip was delicate and prone to flaking and weathering. But they were eminently suitable as splashy (bad pun intended) dedications to gods, and this fine cup must have been used to pour a libation to the goddess and then fleetingly grace her sanctuary.
