Terracotta Lekythos Attributed to the Achilles Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 2011

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Attributed to the Achilles Painter

Period: Classical

Date: ca. 440 B.C.

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Terracotta

Dimensions: H. 14 3/4 in. (37.39 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989

Accession Number: 1989.281.72

Description:

Mourner and the deceased at tomb

This vase exemplifies Attic white-ground funerary lekythoi at their finest. Funerary representations of the sixth century B.C. depicted the deceased surrounded by mourners. By the middle of the fifth century, the deceased was shown either as living or not at all. The figure at the left is a mourner; the deceased is identifiable by the diminutive soul fluttering above his head.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1300...