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View: Handle to right
DEACESSIONED September 21, 2006
Oil flask (lekythos)
Greek
Late Archaic Period
about 490 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Black Figure
Dimensions
20.8 cm (8 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund
Accession Number1989.317
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
DescriptionHerakles uses a bow and arrows against the flesh-eating marsh birds of Stymphalia in northern Arcadia. Herakles wears his magic lionskin as a shield, and his club rests in front of him. He is assisted by his nephew Iolaos, who wears a helmet and breastplate and is using a sling to attack the birds. There are ten birds, those flying toward Iolaos in formation. There are touches of added red and a key pattern to left above the figures. On the reserved (not white) shoulder: tongues above lotus buds. Meaningless inscriptions appear in field. 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). Black figure on white ground.
Condition: Mouth re-attached.
Compare with a near replica in Banco di Sicilia, Palermo.
Condition: Mouth re-attached.
Compare with a near replica in Banco di Sicilia, Palermo.
ProvenanceSaid to come from Selinus (modern-day Selinunte). 1989, sold by Altantis Antiquities, New York, to the MFA [see note]; September 21, 2006, deaccessioned by the MFA for transfer to the Republic of Italy.
NOTE: MFA accession date: November 29, 1989. According to Robert E. Hecht, Jr., of Atlantis Antiquities, he purchased the lekythos in the 1960s from Hubert Herzfelder of Paris.
For further information, please see: http://www.mfa.org/collections/provenance/antiquities-and-cultural-property/italian-ministry-of-culture-agreement
NOTE: MFA accession date: November 29, 1989. According to Robert E. Hecht, Jr., of Atlantis Antiquities, he purchased the lekythos in the 1960s from Hubert Herzfelder of Paris.
For further information, please see: http://www.mfa.org/collections/provenance/antiquities-and-cultural-property/italian-ministry-of-culture-agreement