Advanced Search 
Oil flask (lekythos) depicting scenes of courtship, riding, and hare hunting
Greek
Archaic Period
about 560–540 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Black Figure
Dimensions
Height: 12.4 cm (4 7/8 in.); diameter: 9 cm (3 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Edward Perry and Fiske Warren
Accession Number08.291
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
DescriptionThere are three friezes of decoration on this vessel. The upper frieze shows a man "courting" a boy in the center. The pair are approached on both sides by two files of men (clearly bearded) and youths (unbearded) carrying gifts - a javelin, a diskos, a hare, two cocks . Many Attic vases treat this subject, some with great delicacy, others in pornographic detail. The middle frieze depicts a procession of six young, beardless horsemen, riding towards the right. The lower frieze shows 2 dogs chasing a hare around the vessel into a net, with a cock-fight in the center. A vertical reading shows a connection between the cockfight at the bottom and the competitive courtship ritual in the upper frieze (cf. Barringer, The Hunt in Ancient Greece, p94)
Meaningless inscriptions appear on all three registers. These are "mock inscriptions" which are used when "the artist's literacy failed or no proper names were required" (Boardman, Athenian Black Figure Vases, p. 200)
Meaningless inscriptions appear on all three registers. These are "mock inscriptions" which are used when "the artist's literacy failed or no proper names were required" (Boardman, Athenian Black Figure Vases, p. 200)
ProvenanceBy 1896: with Edward Perry Warren (according to his records: bought from a French dealer, 1896); gift of Edward Perry Warren and Fiske Warren to MFA, May 1908