On a vessel, a figure holds a sack and a disc.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A vessel with a flat base and narrow body which connects to a tall fluted stem. It is painted in red, black and white. A figure in long draping white and red robes stands between a table stacked with oval objects and a stool with a cushion on it. With their left hand they hold a disc up to their face and examine it, while they hold a striped pillowcase or sack in their right hand.

Gallery Text

Not all Attic vases were black and red. One-handled oil flasks (lekythoi) often received a white slip and decoration that became increasingly polychrome in the course of the fifth century BCE. They mostly served as tomb offerings, and many have a funerary theme: laying out the body, visiting the grave, and ferrying the dead to the underworld. Domestic scenes are common, too, such as this young woman stuffing a pillowcase with balls of wool from a basket. The inscription The girl is beautiful referred not just to the outer but also the inner beauty and industriousness of the deceased.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1991.28
People
The Brygos Painter, Greek (active c. 490 BCE - c. 470 BCE)
Title
Lekythos (oil flask): Woman with Balls of Wool
Other Titles
Alternate Title: White-ground Lekythos: Woman Filling a Sack with Wool
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 470 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Classical period, Early
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/289401

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3410, South Arcade
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
White-ground
Dimensions
37.1 x 13.4 cm (14 5/8 x 5 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: Above the wool basket: (HE PAIS K)ALE
    "the girl is beautiful"

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Norbert Schimmel collection, Great Neck, NY, (by 1990), to; the Schimmel Foundation, Inc. (1990-1991), given; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1991.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Beazley Archive Database #28615

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Schimmel Foundation, Inc.
Accession Year
1991
Object Number
1991.28
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Oscar White Muscarella, ed., Ancient Art: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz, 1974), no. 62.
  • Jürgen Stettgast, Von Troja bis Amarna: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, New York, exh. cat., Verlag Philipp von Zabern (Mainz, 1978), no. 81.
  • John Oakley, A Guide to Scenes of Daily Life on Athenian Vases, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, 2020), pp. 25-26, fig. 1-25

Exhibition History

  • Von Troja bis Amarna: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, 03/18/1978 - 05/28/1978; Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 06/24/1978 - 09/03/1978; Archäologische Staatssammlung München - Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 09/28/1978 - 01/06/1979
  • Pandora's Box: Women in Classical Greece, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 11/05/1995 - 01/07/1996; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 02/04/1996 - 03/31/1996; Antikenmuseum und Sammlung Ludwig, Basel, 04/28/1996 - 06/23/1996
  • 32Q: 3410 South Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu