Fluted Chalice

The chalice is made of "bucchero pesante" (heavy bucchero) and bears no incised or relief decoration. The undulating shape of the bowl is formed by seventeen convex flutes; vertical channels between each flute are clearly delineated on the exterior. Below is a sharp, unnotched carination, a pronounced ring at the top of a pedestal foot, and two more rings separated by a deep groove. The foot is trumpet-shaped. Tall chalices with fluted bowls are found at numerous Etruscan sites during the first half of the 6th century, and this example was probably produced in a pottery workshop in Vulci. Fine bucchero often mimics the shapes of costly silver and bronze tableware, and some pieces were even overlaid with silver leaf. This elegant cup’s thin-walled, undulating flutes and tall foot with contoured rings are stylistic features shared by cast and hammered metal vessels.