MANNER OF DOURIS, CIRCA 480 B.C.

Douris is considered one of the four leading cup-painters of his generation, together with Onesimos, the Brygos Painter and Makron. He was prolific during his long career, with nearly 300 vases assigned to him. As Beazley notes (op. cit., 1963, p. 425), his signature appears on 39 vases, nearly all cups but for one kantharos, one psykter and one aryballos. That he was also a potter is confirmed on the kantharos, where he signs as potter too, and on the aryballos, where he signs only as potter. Some of his early works were fashioned by Euphronios as potter but his most frequent collaborator was Python, whose signature appears as potter on three cups also signed by Douris as painter, with many others, unsigned, also attributed to him.

Within the tondo of the cup presented here stands a bearded reveler walking to the right. His head is thrown back and his mouth is open, as if singing. He is nude but for a chlamys with a black border draped over his shoulders and around his arms. He holds a lyre in his left hand from which a basket is suspended and a plectrum in his right hand. The scene is enclosed within a border of meander squares alternating with saltire squares. The exterior of the cup is left undecorated. Douris painted a similar scene on a kylix now in the Louvre, p. 427, no. 1 in Beazley, op. cit., 1963.