A Siana cup is a type of

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

cup decorated in the black-figure technique. They are named after one of their find locations, the

Necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

of the ancient city of Siana on

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

. During the second quarter of the 6th century BC, Siana cups were the predominant cup shape in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. The shape remained popular later and was still being produced in large quantities during the era of the

Little-Master cups Little-Master cups are a type of Attic black-figure cups, produced around the middle and third quarter of the sixth century BC. Their name is based on their fine small-format decoration. Little-Master cups are later in origin than Siana cups, b ...

. Siana cups were the successors of Komast cups, produced by the Komast Group. In fact, the last representatives of that group were the first to manufacture Siana cups. Typical features include the clearly distinguished lip or rim, and the concave foot, which is taller than in Komast cups. The handles are slightly upturned. A new development is the use of painted ''tondos'' on the cup interior. These were often framed by bands of flames or other ornamentation; the central image was frequently of a running human figure in a semi-crouched position. There are two separate decorative schemes for the exteriors. Some of the images are painted straight across the carination (or fold) between the bowl and the rim. This is known as the "overlap" scheme. In other cases, the parts above and below the carination are painted separately and described as "double-deckers". In that scheme, the upper frieze is often purely ornamental, especially with vegetal patterns of ivy or laurel. This type is especially common in East Greece. Animal friezes are comparably rarer. Figural decorations occur in the handle zone, as do handle

palmette The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has a far-reaching history, originating in ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art o ...

s. Popular pictorial themes include symposia, komasts,

cavalcade A cavalcade is a procession or parade on horseback, or a mass distance ride by a company of riders. Sometimes the focus of a cavalcade is participation rather than display and the participants do not wear costumes or ride in formation. ...

s, duels, as well as athletic and mythological scenes. Several vase painters had specialised in painting Siana cups. The most important among them was the

C Painter The C Painter was one of the most important Attica, Attic black-figure vase painting, black-figure vase painters. His works date to ''circa'' 575–550 BC. His conventional name was allocated by the archaeologist John Beazley. The C stands for "Cor ...

. Others include the Painter of Athens 553, the Heidelberg Painter, the Painter of Boston CA, the Kassandra Painter, the Sandal Painter, the Civico Painter and the Griffin-Bird Painter. At present, about 1,000 cups and fragments are known; a classification vital for their chronology and stylistic categorisation has been developed by Herman Brijder. A special type is so-called Merrythought cups, with a forked handle.

Bibliography

John Beazley Sir John Davidson Beazley (; 13 September 1885 – 6 May 1970) was a British classical archaeologist and art historian, known for his classification of Attic vases by artistic style. He was professor of classical archaeology and art at the U ...

: ''Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters'', Oxford 1956, S. *John Beazley: ''Paralipomena. Additions to Attic black-figure vase-painters and to Attic red-figure vase-painters'', Oxford 1971, S. 23–29. * John Boardman: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Ein Handbuch'', von Zabern, Mainz 1977 (Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Band 1). . S. 34–37. * Herman A. G. Brijder: ''Siana cups I and Komast cups'' (2 vols.), Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam 1983 (Allard Pierson Series vol. 4). . * Herman A. G. Brijder: ''Siana cups II: the Heidelberg painter'' (2 vols.), Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam 1991 (Allard Pierson series. Studies in ancient civilization, Bd. 8). . * Herman A. G. Brijder: ''Siana cups III. The Red-Black Painter, Griffin-Bird Painter and Siana cups resembling lip-cups'' (2 Teilbände: Text- und Tafelband), Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam 2000 (Allard Pierson series. Studies in ancient civilization, Bd. 13). .

External links

Siana cup by the Heidelberg Painter

{{Greek drinking cups Ancient Greek pottery