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Oil flask (lekythos) with a warrior and horse
Greek
Late Archaic Period
about 490 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Black Figure
Dimensions
26.1 cm (10 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number99.528
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
DescriptionA young warrior, nude except for a high helmet and greaves, leads a horse to right. The warrior is painted with black glaze on a white ground, and the white horse is rendered with an outline. Meaningless inscriptions appear between the heads of the warrior and the horse, between the warrior's legs, under the horse's tail, and under the horse's belly. These are mock inscriptions that are used when "the artist's literacy failed or no proper names were required" (Boardman, Athenian Black Figure Vases, p. 200) The figures appear between large palmette motifs.
Condition: Slightly restored.
Condition: Slightly restored.
ProvenanceBy 1899: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: Sent from Palermo 1899.); purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren, 1899, for $ 32,500.00 (this is the total price for MFA 99.338-99.542)