Terracotta lekythos (oil flask) | Achilles Painter | All | Greek and Roman Art | Collection Database | Works of Art

Description

Mourner and the deceased at tomb

This vase, which depicts a mourner and the deceased at tomb, 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. The Achilles Painter was one of the foremost red-figure artists of the mid-fifth century B.C. His funerary lekythoi are among the most poignant and beautifully executed.

ProvenanceBy 1974, collection of Norbert Schimmel; acquired October 10, 1989, gift of the Norbert Schimmel Trust.

Selected BibliographyBothmer, D. von. 1974. In Ancient Art: The Norbert Schimmel Collection, edited by O. W. Muscarella. Mainz: P. von Zabern, no. 63.

Vermeule, E. 1979. Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 9, 213, n. 15, ill. p. 10, fig. 5.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1990. Annual Report, 1989-1990. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 26.

Milleker, E. J. 1992. In "Ancient Art: Gifts from the Norbert Schimmel Collection." MMA Bulletin, n.s., 49, no. 4: 48.

Oakley, J. H. 1997. The Achilles Painter. Mainz: P. von Zabern, pp. 67, 68, 69, 146, no. 234, pl. 123, a, b.

Oakley, J. H. 2004. Picturing Death in Classical Athens: The Evidence of the White Lekythoi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 15, 204, 212, pl. VIII, a, b.

Picón, C. A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 435, no. 156, ill. p. 139.

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Greek and Roman Art: All