Perseus Art and Archaeology Browser

ID:

aa_5341

Beazley Number:

216396

Type:

Vase

Date:

ca. -430 — ca. -420

Period:

Classical

Painter:

Attributed to the Bird Painter

Condition:

Neck and handle broken and repaired. Considerable pocking and abrasion of the white slip and added colors. Some repainting; e.g. parts of the red himation.

Dimensions:

H. 0.301 m.

Ware:

Attic Red Figure, White Ground

Shape:

Lekythos

Shape Description

Standard.

Decoration Description

The figures are outlined in brown dilute glaze. A woman and a youth stand on either side of a tomb monument consisting of a tall stele with a three-stepped base, a rudimentary pediment, a pine-cone finial, and a Lesbian cymatium. The woman, at left, places her left foot on the lower step of the monument. She carries a basket of ribbons and garlands with which to decorate the tomb. The woman appears naked, but in fact the added colors of her garments have worn away. Her dark curly hair is tied up in a chignon. The youth opposite wears a himation of added red and has brown hair delicately rendered with dilute glaze. Instead of a mourner, he may represent the deceased, whose shade haunts the vicinity of the tomb and is a witness to the ritual mourning that takes place there.

On the shoulder are three palmettes with petals alternately red and black. The middle palmette points downward and is linked to the other two, which point toward the handles, by scrolling tendrils. Above the figures, framed by paired lines that circle the vase, is a band of key-pattern to right, extending half way round the vase. The handle, neck, lower body, top of the foot, and the outside of the mouth are black.

Collection:

Cambridge, Harvard University Art Museums

Bequest of J. C. Hoppin. Bought in Athens in 1898.

Citations and Bibliography

ARV2, 1231, 2; Beazley Addenda 2, 353.

CVA, Hoppin-Gallatin.

CVA, Hoppin-Gallatin, USA 1, 12, pl. 20, 2-3.