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Oil flask (lekythos) with Athena

Greek
Early Classical Period
about 470–460 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens

Medium/Technique Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions Height: 40.8 cm (16 1/16 in.)
Credit Line Catharine Page Perkins Fund
Accession Number95.43
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsVessels

Catalogue Raisonné Caskey-Beazley, Attic Vase Paintings (MFA), no. 089.
DescriptionAthena standing full front, with face profile to left; she holds her helmet in her right hand. In the field at her left and referring to the goddess is the Greek inscription "beautiful" (KALE), and below her right arm "Hippon is handsome" (HIPPON KALOS).
Restorations affect figure very slightly.

[Label text]:
The goddess Athena is depicted here with all her usual attributes-a staff and a helmet identify her association with war. She also wears the protective aegis, a cape given to her by Zeus that bears the head of the gorgon Medusa.
InscriptionsΚΑLΕ

ΗΙΠΠΟΝΚΑLΟS
ProvenanceBy date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren (according to his records: found in the same grave, Greece, with 95.44 and 95.45; according to Caskey-Beazley, no. 89: from Thebes); 1895: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren for $ 29,857.37 (this figure is the total price for MFA 95.9-95.174)