Roman silver drinking cup, now in the
British Museum, named after its first (modern) owner, Edward Perry Warren, who purchased it between 1892 and 1902. It is made of thin, hammered silver on a small base, covered in raised reliefs depicting
homoerotic scenes. There are two major scenes on the cup. The first depicts a bearded man reclining on a couch, wearing nothing but a
laurel wreath, with a younger/clean-shaven man, also nude, in his lap, steadying himself with a loop attached to the wall. From a nearby door, behind a curtain, a grinning
young boy (with curly hair and a
slave-tunic, probably supposed to be an African) looks on. A
harp is hung on the wall.
The second depicts two young boys. One is leaning back, holding the second one cross-wise on his lap, supporting his thigh with one hand. The cross-wise lad is clenching a blanket.
The cup is a perfect example of Roman erotic art and Roman sexuality, finely done. Traditional dating is from the late Augustan to the early Claudian period, though the thin style is typical of 1st century B.C. Hellenistic cups.