5th-4th century BC. A silver two-handled drinking cup with a flared foot, plain body with everted rim; two applied loop handles with scallop shell finials; on one handle a punched inscription, probably representing the maker’s mark. See Strong, D.E., Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate, Glasgow, 1966; Davis-Kimball, J., Bashilov, V.A., Yablonsky, L.T., Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age, Berkeley, 1995; Gavriljuk, N.A., Social and Economic Stratification of the Scythians from the Steppe Region Based on black-glazed pottery from burials, 2009; Meyer, C., Greco-Scythian art & the birth of Eurasia, from classical Antiquity to Russian Modernity, Oxford, 2013.203 grams, 16cm wide (6 1/4"). Ex private collection of Mr M. B., Mainz, Germany, since the 1980s; accompanied by an archaeological expertise by Dr. Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no. 10387-169244. The kantharos, a type of drinking cup with high handles, was the attribute of the god Dionysus (Bacchus for the Romans) and its form recalls the kantharoi of 5th-4th century BC (Walters Art Gallery, inv.57.934, see Strong, 1966, plate 9b"). This double-shelled cup was assembled from separate parts, including the foot and the two sections of the handles. It is a masterwork of Graeco-Scythian art, or better so of Greek art often found in the Scythian graves. Since the 6th century BC, kantharoi could be found in graves of wealthy barbarian princes living at the fringes of the Greek world, like the chieftains of the Dassaretioi (Illyrians) buried in the grave of Trebenishte, where the three silver kantharoi found were imported from Greece. In the Black Sea cemeteries situated in the vicinities of Greek towns of Pontus, both Scythian male and female graves of the 4th century BC, often contained some Greek amphorae and black burnished drinking vessels, kantharoi, or a kylix, or Scythian pottery located next to the sacrificial meat. In the tumulus of Karagodeuashkh, in the region of lower Kuban, in an ashlar built tomb, a silver cup was found, and inside the male grave of the second chamber several silver kylixes and a skyphos were found (Meyer, 2013, pp. 363ff.), other two-handled or plain silver cups were also found in various graves (Meyer, 2013, pp.326, 331, 348"). [A video of this lot is available to view on TimeLine Auctions website.]