Attic Red-Figure Cup

A satyr holding a drinking cup decorates the interior of this Athenian red‑figure cup. Satyrs, part‑human, part‑animal companions of Dionysos, the god of wine, were a popular and fitting decoration for vessels intended for use at a symposion or drinking party. 

Stylistically the decoration of this cup fits with the work of the painter Makron, who worked during the early decades of the fifth century B.C. The artist used heavy lines of black glaze, actually raised from the surface of the vase, for large contours of the body. He then applied lines of diluted glaze, which fired brown rather than black, for smaller musculature. This varied intensity of line enabled the vase-painter to give a sense of mass and three‑dimensionality to the satyr.