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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1925.30.54
People
Attributed to The Bird Painter
Title
Lekythos (oil flask): Visit to the Grave
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 430 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Attica
Period
Classical period, High
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/291597

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta with polychrome decoration
Technique
White-ground
Dimensions
H. 30.1 x Dia. 8.4 cm (11 7/8 x 3 5/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
JCH purchased in Athens 1898.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Beazley Archive Database #216396

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Joseph C. Hoppin
Accession Year
1925
Object Number
1925.30.54
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
A garlanded stele on two steps with a pediment; at r. a youth in a red cloak, at l. a woman holding a basket with garlands; she appears to be nude.
Commentary
Re-View Exhibition, Spring 2008, gallery label information:

Lekythoi, containers for oil, were routinely deposited in or above tombs as gifts for the dead. Sometimes an insert just below the neck enabled mourners to leave just a small amount of oil while appearing to have offered a full vessel. In contrast to the majority of Greek vases, Attic lekythoi of the fifth century BCE were covered in a white slip and painted with fugitive polychrome decoration depicting funerary
themes. The left lekythos (1952.75) shows the prothesis, or laying out of the body, on a festooned bier surrounded by three mourning figures; the right (1925.30.54) depicts mourners visiting the grave, which is marked by a tall stele bedecked with garlands, now partly faded.

Publication History

  • Joseph Clark Hoppin and Albert Gallatin, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, U.S.A.: volume 1, Hoppin and Gallatin Collections, Libraire Ancienne Edouard Champion (Paris, 1926)
  • George M. A. Hanfmann, Greek Art and Life, An Exhibition Catalogue, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1950), no. 133.
  • J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, England, 1963), 1231.2
  • Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford, England, 1963), 1231.2

Exhibition History

  • Greek Art and Life: From the Collections of the Fogg Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Private Lenders, Fogg Art Museum, 03/07/1950 - 04/15/1950
  • Re-View: S422 Ancient & Byzantine Art & Numismatics, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/12/2008 - 06/18/2011

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