A single handled bowl, or drinking cup, covered with black gloss inside and out. The inside of the bowl is decorated with a stamped central Gorgon's head, surrounded by four motifs which appear to be jellyfish. The vessel stands on a low ring foot with reserved underside.
 
Ancient Greek colonies of Campania, Italy: Circa 4th century BC.
 
Condition: Complete and intact; the glaze around the handle a little eroded.
Width across handle 13.5 cms (5.3 ins).
 
Provenance: From a French private collection. Acquired in 1988 from Maitre G. Gamet, Aubagne.
 
The decoration of jellyfish is conjectoral. Certainly uncommon, it may be a mythological allusion to Medusa, whose head is surrounded by writhing snake-like tendrils, resembling the trailing tentacles of a jellyfish. The modern genus name for true jellyfish is Medusa—named directly after her, because of this resemblance.