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Detail
Oil flask (lekythos) with seated woman and attendant
Greek
Classical Period
about 440 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens; Findspot: Suessula, Italy
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, White Ground
Dimensions
Overall: 34.7 x 10.5 cm (13 11/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912
Accession Number13.187
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
Catalogue Raisonné
Caskey-Beazley, Attic Vase Paintings (MFA), no. 053.
DescriptionAt left, a woman seated to right in a chair, painted brown, holding an object in both hands. The paint used has faded away, but it most likely was a necklace or other piece of jewelry. She wears a sleeved dress (chiton) and a pink mantle (himation). From the right approaches a girl holding out both hands. She also must have been holding something, perhaps more jewelry. She wears a diaphanous sleeveless dress (peplos): its color has since faded away . Hanging in field to left, a mirror and an oinochoë. To the right, a hair-bag (sakkos) hangs. Between the women at the top of the body of the vessel a Greek inscription reads: "Axiopeithes, son of Alkimachos, is handsome" (AXIOPEI[THE]S KALOS ALKIMAX[O]).
Inscriptions"Axiopeithes, son of Alkimachos, is handsome" (AXIOPEI[THE]S KALOS ALKIMAX[O])
ΑΞΙΟ[Π]ΕΙ[ΘΗ]S
ΚΑ[Λ]ΟS
ΑΛΚΙΜΑΧ[Ο]
ΑΞΙΟ[Π]ΕΙ[ΘΗ]S
ΚΑ[Λ]ΟS
ΑΛΚΙΜΑΧ[Ο]
Provenance1879: found in a tufa sarcophagus at Suessula by D. Marcello Spinelli; D. Marco Spinelli Collection; by 1913: with Edward Perry Warren; January 2, 1913: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren for $18,948.70 (this figure is the total price for MFA 13.186-13.245)