The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Attributed to the Amasis Painter

Period:: Archaic
Date:: ca. 550–530 B.C.
Culture:: Greek, Attic
Medium:: Terracotta; black-figure
Dimensions:: H. 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm)
Classification:: Vases
Credit Line:: Purchase, Walter C. Baker Gift, 1956
Accession Number:: 56.11.1

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 154

Description

On the shoulder, women dancing between musicians playing flute and lyre
On the body, wedding procession

This is the earliest and most complete known representation of an Attic wedding. The bridal couple with the best man behind them sit in a cart drawn by two donkeys. A mule cart with four guests follows. Other members of the procession are on foot. The woman in the lead holds two torches, indicating that the scene takes place at night. The procession heads toward the bridegroom's house where a woman, probably the mother of the groom, awaits. The architecture of the house is carefully indicated; the white columns of the porch may be painted wood.
References

1956. "Eighty-Sixth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1955-1956." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15(2): p. 54.

Richter, Gisela M.A. 1970. "The Department of Greek and Roman Art: Triumphs and Tribulations." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3: pp. 84, 86-87, fig. 29.

von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1972. "Greek Vase Painting: An Introduction." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 31(1): no. 8, pp. 4, 22-23, 67.
See also
Who
Amasis Painter (14)
What
Clay (23,658)

Vessels (21,925)

Vases (8,895)

Terracotta (8,374)

Jugs (1,686)

Lekythoi (291)
Where
Europe (150,013)

Greece (6,289)
When
1000 B.C.-A.D. 1 (23,207)
In the Museum
Greek and Roman Art (17,330)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Scenes of Everyday Life in Ancient Greece

Women in Classical Greece

Time of Day on Painted Athenian Vases

Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
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