Lekythos by the Brygos Painter with a Woman Working Wool in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, July 2011

Oil flask (lekythos) with a woman working wool

the Brygos Painter

Greek

Early Classical Period

about 480–470 B.C.

Medium/Technique Ceramic, Red Figure

Dimensions Overall: 33.2 x 12 cm (13 1/16 x 4 3/4 in.)

Credit Line Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912

Accession Number13.189

Collections: Ancient Greece and Rome

Classifications: Vessels


Catalogue Raisonné Caskey-Beazley, Attic Vase Paintings (MFA), no. 029; Highlights: Classical Art (MFA), p. 117.

Description: An elegant woman is seated pulling out a skein of wook from her wool basket (kalathos). She wears earrings, bracelets on both arms, a diadem, and an Ionic chiton and himation. She has an elaborate hairstyle, with part of her hair tied up in a bun, and long strands pulled down in the front. She pulls a long strip of wool out of a basket on ground before her. A hair-bag (sakkos) and mirror are hung up in field. The mirror is decorated with a head in profile drawn in outline, which probably represents a relief on the back of the mirror. The object hanging off her chair may be a wool-carder. Above her in the field is the Greek inscription: "the girl [is pretty])" (HE PAIS KALE).

Inscriptions: "The girl [is pretty])" (HE PAIS [KALE]).
ΗΕΠΑΙS

Provenance: By 1912: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: from Gela); purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren, January 2, 1913, for $18,948.70 (this figure is the total price for MFA 13.186-13.245)


Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/153786/oil-flask-lekythos-with-a-woman-working-wool