The Warren Cup

Book excerpt: "The silver Warren Cup, created early in the first century AD, is a remarkably important and beautiful masterpiece of Roman art. The scenes on either side show a pair of male lovers in low relief. This book examines the iconography of the Warren Cup, and sets it in its social and historical context. It also discusses the cup's modern history, especially the life of the eccentric collector, Edward Perry Warren, from which it takes its name. The cup's acquisition by the British Museum in 1999, after years of obscurity due to the explicit nature of the scenes depicted, caused quite a stir in the press. This extraordinary work of art not only provides a means of understanding ancient Roman attitudes to sexuality, but also challenges us across the centuries to reflect on our own contemporary attitudes."--BOOK JACKET.