Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Inscription Painter

ca. 460 BCE · Terracotta · Greek and Roman Art

Woman and warrior at a tomb Having come apart at the shoulder, this lekythos was left disassembled in order to show the interior. Attic funerary lekythoi typically have a small bulb inside the body at the end of the neck. The purpose was to economize in the amount of oil offered to the dead. The shape of the bulb tends to vary by workshop. The vase is also significant iconographically. The woman holds a helmet, presumably that of the deceased. On the far side of the monument stands an armed warrior—a mourner or an image of the fallen soldier? Of further note is the drinking cup and the phialai (libation bowls) that are suspended on the tombstone and in the background.

Artist

Inscription Painter

Date

ca. 460 BCE

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Greek, Attic

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1906