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Owl drinking cup, terracotta, Greece or the wider Hellenic world, ~400-350 BCE
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this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2026
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I also noticed that some had 2 horizontal handles while others had them going with one vertical.
It made me wonder if it was something deeper than a stylistic choice.
Found this article and it's more or less the scientific way of saying: some guys are speculating but actually we don't really know 😅 https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/the-owls-of-athena-some-comments-on-owl-skyphoi-and-their-iconography/
"I dunno... maybe they thought it made it look like an owl this way? You like owls, so we made your owl cups vaguely shared like owls?"
I looked up some other Acropolis owls and I liked this little guy. This site has a neat 3D rotatable scan of it.
Maybe a "happy little accident" a la Bob Ross. And the artist thought exactly this 😆
The Acropolis find is cute. Maybe some soapstone and time... Just kidding.
Looking at various specimens of the cup, it looks like there were a lot of happy accidents. Some versions have some pretty funny eyeballs! 😁
It would be awesome to know how to sculpt or carve. The only thing I ever carved was a very minimal fish, though I do love it!
I'm making life sized standies of all 8 owls of Pennsylvania for the clinic open house, and that is proving enough of a challenge for me as it is!
To borrow a famous quote (that has been attributed to numerous sculptors):
It's easy. You just chip away everything that doesn't look like an owl.
Wishing you all the best for your art project and the open house!
Lol, my mind must have the graphics chip from an Atari 2600.
Thanks! People seem to be excited about it. I always have higher aspirations than what is probably realistic, so I take their word. I want a mechanical owl leg to show how the talons work so well, but none of us appears to be a roboticist. 🤪