Terracotta squat lekythos (oil flask)

Achilles Painter

ca. 440 BCE · Terracotta · Greek and Roman Art

Warrior departing The squat lekythos became a significant shape favored by the best Attic painters of the second half of the fifth century B.C., as the pieces in this gallery attest. The shape seems to have been used for red-figure decoration as the standard lekythos was increasingly decorated in the white-ground technique—a development in which the Achilles Painter played a major role. This example is larger than the usual squat lekythos. The potting and decoration are especially fine.

Artist

Achilles Painter

Date

ca. 440 BCE

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Greek, Attic

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1917