Il vino, lo sguardo, il vaso e la maschera

Since the 1970s, numerous studies have focused on the depiction of eyes on the vases used for wine consumption; the cup decorated with eyes in the sympotic context were defined as a ‘vase/face’, a prosopon offered to those who use it. The hypothesis was that the “big eyes” motif had an apotropaic function: eyes that protected the drinker from bad luck. This hypothesis was deemed unreliable since the “big-eyed” cup, rather than defending the drinker, addressed him as a real face. Furthermore, the motif of the “big eyes” could decorate the bottom medallion of the cup, also called prosopon, inside the vase itself. The recipient of the look, therefore, could only be the drinker himself. Gloria Ferrari Pinney, contesting the superstitious theme, formulated the hypothesis that the “big eyes” and eyebrows painted on these cups – together with the stylization of the nose and the resemblance of the handles to two ears – simply represented the mask of Dionysus or, more frequently, of a Satyr.