Skeuomorphism and the Evocation of Athenian Gold-Figured Silver Plate

In 1994 the publication of Artful Crafts by Michael Vickers and David Gill drew attention to the evocation of lost Athenian gold-figured silver plate by Athenian red-figured pottery. Some of the best-preserved examples of gold-figured plate had been found in the Thracian burial mounds at Duvanli: they included a phiale and kantharos. The weight of these pieces suggest that they had been made to weigh a round number of Attic drachmae: the phiale, for example, was the equivalent of 1 mina (100 drachmae). Other undecorated silver plate had close links with Attic black-glossed pottery, perhaps suggesting that ancient silver was kept in a patinated condition. The (lost) silver cup with gold tondo from the Chemyrev mound in Ukraine is very close to the Attic black-glossed acrocups that appear to be cheaper copies; and the silver mug from Duvanli finds frequent parallels in black-glossed pottery. Over the last quarter of a century other gold-figured silver plate has surfaced, often in private collections. The pieces include a phiale decorated with a hunt scene in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art that weighed approximately 1 mina. A series of gold-figured silver plate from the Bojkov collection includes stemless Rheneia cups, kantharoi, and a further phiale. Although items of gold and silver plate are well known from classical texts as well as their listing in temple inventories, classical archaeologists have continued to privilege Athenian red-figured pottery.