Painted limestone funerary slab with a soldier taking a kantharos from his attendant

Unknown

2nd half of 3rd century BCE · Limestone, paint · Greek and Roman Art

A boy with dark brown skin, standing at the left, holds out a black cup to a tall soldier in a long blue cloak, at the right. The boy holds a lance and supports the soldier's large oval shield against his chest. Almost all the preserved evidence for painting in the Hellenistic period comes from funerary monuments. Some like the vaulted tombs of Macedonia and Thrace show large scale figures and friezes. More modest painted stelai like the ones displayed here have been found in many places in the Eastern Meditereanean.

Artist

Unknown

Date

2nd half of 3rd century BCE

Medium

Limestone, paint

Culture

Greek

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Gift of Darius Odgen Mills, 1904