Attic Pottery - Red-Figure Ware: Squat Red-figure Lekythos
Inv. No.: 95.127
Provenance: Attica (Metaponto)
Date: second half of 5th century BC
Height: 60mm
Diameter: 51mm
This is a small, intact lekythos with a rounded, squat body and a wide base set on a narrow ring-shaped foot. The echinus mouth is offset from the narrow neck. There is a slight moulded ring where the neck joins the shoulder. The flat strap handle curves from the top of the neck to the edge of the shoulder. The vase is mainly black with a red-figure depiction of a crouching, long-necked bird, probably a swan, placed on a ovolo ground line. The black has worn off the edges of the lip, handle and ring foot. It has also fired red in places.
Function:
A container for oil or perfumed oil, used for funerary or domestic purposes.
Manufacture:
The vase was thrown on the wheel in sections and turned when leather-hard. The handle was shaped by hand and attached with slip.
Decoration:
- The red-figure bird is shown in profile, facing left. It has a large, round eye and a long beak. Feather details are suggested by black dots on the bird breast and lines on the wings. The bird is looking at an egg placed on the ground line.
- The dotted ovolo pattern is set between double black-brown lines.
Comparanda:
Böhr, E., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Deutschland 63, Mainz 2 (1993), Tafel 19, 7-9 (swan with raised wings).
Burow, J., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Deutschland 54, Tübingen 5 (1986), Tafel 46, 4-5 (swan with raised wings, perhaps looking at an egg, on a similar vase).
Maluquer de Motes I Nicolau, J. et al, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Spain 5, Ullastret 1 (1984), Plate 36, 3.
Porto, F. G. Lo, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Italia 40, Turino 2 (1969), III I, Tavola 13, 7 (similar bird, facing right, on a similar vase).
Wehgartner, I., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Deutschland 62, Berlin 8 (1991), Tafel 40, 3-4 (swan with raised wings on a similar vase), Tafel 45, 3.