In the 4th century BC, red-figure ware produced in the Greek colonies in southern Italy (Magna Graecia) rivaled the well-known painted pottery from Athens. This drinking cup, clearly made as a pair (see 1999.67.1), is a superb example of the graceful and refined vessels made in the region of Apulia during the height of this period. Their crisp and delicate shaping and slender handles owe much to silver or bronze examples, which must have been the prototypes for this form. The pair of cups have been attributed to an artist within the workshop of the Iliuspersis Painter, who produced some of the most important Apulian vases of the 2nd quarter of the 4th century BC and introduced elements in vase decorations that had a profound influence on later painters. Delicately painted seated figures adorn the center of each cup. On here, the Olympian god Apollo sits between two boughs of laurel, tuning his kithara; on the other, the god Hermes feeds or playfully teases the hound reclining at his side.