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An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo image 1
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo image 2
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo image 3
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo image 4
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo image 5
Swiss Private Collection (Lots 19-25)
Lot 21*

An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo

4 December 2025, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£6,000 - £8,000

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An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo

Circa 525-500 B.C.
32cm diam including handles, 10cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Karl Donndorf (1870-1941) Collection, Stuttgart, Germany, acquired prior to 1941, thence by descent.
Asiatika, Afrikana und Aussereuropäische Kunst, Kaupp, Sulzburg, 8 December 2012, lot 4491.
Private collection, Switzerland, acquired at the above sale.

Karl Donndorf was a son of the sculptor Adolf von Donndorf. After training with his father and at the Stuttgart Art School, he continued his studies in Dresden, Paris and Rome.

Published:
Kallos Gallery, London, cat. 8, September 2020, pp. 10-11, no.4.

The eyes and gorgoneion tondo serve to ward off evil. For a similar example of a black-figure eye-cup, with a gorgoneion tondo and Dionysian imagery, see J.C. Hoppin, E. Champion (ed.), A Handbook of Greek Black-Figured Vases, Paris, 1923, p.213.

Additional information