Orgy
The scene inside the tondo of this damaged kylix painted by the Thalia Painter shows an orgy. In the center, an entwined couple: the man is grasping the edges of the kline as he penetrates the woman lying under him, who, contrary to what might be assumed, is tapping her sandal on the upraised buttocks of her bearded partner. Behind them, on a bolster, is a masturbating youth. The Thalia Painter has been careful to show the woman’s leg wrapping around the man’s and the youth’s legs disappearing behind the couple’s. Beneath them is a woman with her eyes languorously shut, also masturbating. Probably this is the the only depiction of a woman using her hand rather than a dildo or other objects. She is placed below the kline and above the top of a footstool. The youth is almost certainly placed as an onlooker; the woman, almost certainly not. Above the scene an inscription reads: Λεαγρος καλ[ος].
The conventional name of the painter derives from the name Thalia - “ΘΑΛΙΑ” - engraved near a hataira painted on the external side of this kylix.
CAV / CAVI @ www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
Source: Blondel R., “Ancient sex”
Attic red-figured kylix
Attributed to The Thalia Painter
520- 500 BC
From Vulci
Berlin, Antikensammlung, Inv. N. 3251
Orgy
The scene inside the tondo of this damaged kylix painted by the Thalia Painter shows an orgy. In the center, an entwined couple: the man is grasping the edges of the kline as he penetrates the woman lying under him, who, contrary to what might be assumed, is tapping her sandal on the upraised buttocks of her bearded partner. Behind them, on a bolster, is a masturbating youth. The Thalia Painter has been careful to show the woman’s leg wrapping around the man’s and the youth’s legs disappearing behind the couple’s. Beneath them is a woman with her eyes languorously shut, also masturbating. Probably this is the the only depiction of a woman using her hand rather than a dildo or other objects. She is placed below the kline and above the top of a footstool. The youth is almost certainly placed as an onlooker; the woman, almost certainly not. Above the scene an inscription reads: Λεαγρος καλ[ος].
The conventional name of the painter derives from the name Thalia - “ΘΑΛΙΑ” - engraved near a hataira painted on the external side of this kylix.
CAV / CAVI @ www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
Source: Blondel R., “Ancient sex”
Attic red-figured kylix
Attributed to The Thalia Painter
520- 500 BC
From Vulci
Berlin, Antikensammlung, Inv. N. 3251