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Oil flask (squat lekythos) depicting Eros

Greek, South Italian
Late Classical Period
360–350 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Italy, Apulia

Medium/Technique Ceramic, Red Figure
Dimensions Height: 10.7 cm (4 3/16 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Barbara Deering Danielson
Accession Number1982.658
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsVessels

Catalogue Raisonné Vase-Painting in Italy (MFA), no. 022.
DescriptionOn the body, Eros advances toward an altar at the right, holding a phiale full of white offerings in his left hand. He has bracelets on each arm and a fillet on his head, all in white. A single offering, possibly an egg, sits on the altar. Compare the composition on the reverse of a pelike, catalogue no. 24. There is a palmette beneath the handle and one on either side of it. Rays circle the lower neck. The groundline is a simple reserved stripe. The underside of the foot and the fillet between the foot and body are painted with added red.
The figures and props seem related to the Dijon and Iliupersis Painters (Herrmann). The roundel with seven dots (a patera?) among the palmettes on the reverse is found on several lesser works of this circle. For the dotted roundel, see RVAp, I, pls. 70, 4; 74, 4; 92, 7-8.

(text from Vase-Painting In Italy, catalogue entry no. 22)
ProvenanceBy date unknown: Charles Deering Collection; by date unknown: Barbara Deering Danielson Collection; gift of Barbara Deering Danielson to MFA, December 8, 1982