Some rather good party tricks
Wine cooler (psykter) signed by Douris as painter
Douris was chiefly a painted of cups, more than 250 of which have been preserved. He began his career in the workshop of Euphronios but soon moved to Python’s. His painting is very graceful, even when, as here, showing a troop of excited satyrs in exhbibitionist mode.
Athens, ca. 490 BC
Found in Cerveteri, Etruria
Now, one usually thinks one has seen all the Greek pottery one will ever want to see — especially, if, like me, one has seen a great deal of it — Warsaw has one of the largest collections in Europe on account of a relative who excavated and collected them in the 1770’s and 80’s for fun and pleasure — but one really has not seen anything worth looking at until one has seen Athenian pottery. Something happened in Athens ca. 500 BC, something miraculous, a supernova, perhaps, or an alien landing: it’s not just the quality of the painting alone, either, but the potting, too: such perfectly, gracefully, beautifully shaped pieces will not be made again until 1500 years later in Jingdezheng. The British Museum is stoked on the Athenians, thrown together cheek-to-jowl behind reflective glass. The eye sees more than the camera, not only because it can deal with the glare, but also because, well, we have two of them, which means that we see more of the pot all at once than the camera ever will. I have long tried to decide whether to post these photos, but relented at last: if, like Sir C, you do not travel, you will never have an inkling of the Athenian miracle.
And, besides, this particular pot can teach you a useful party trick.
Or two.
Notes on The Cultured Life 
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