Terracotta pyxis (box) with lid

ca. 460 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 156
Interior scene with six women conversing and working wool

The woman to the right of the column, who has just arrived, offers a long fillet (band) to her seated friend and receives a flower in return. Behind her, another woman walks toward a seated woman holding up a necklace. Two women work wool. One stands with a distaff in her left hand. From the hank of wool wound around it, she has drawn out a length of fibers and is twisting them into yarn with her right hand by twirling the long spindle that hangs over a wool basket. The other woman sits with one leg propped up and her skirt raised above the knee. She apparently is winding wool into a skein and drawing the yarn over her leg to prevent it from snarling.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Terracotta pyxis (box) with lid
  • Artist: Attributed to the Painter of Philadelphia 2449
  • Period: Classical
  • Date: ca. 460 BCE
  • Culture: Greek, Attic
  • Medium: Terracotta; red-figure
  • Dimensions: H. with cover 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm)
    H. without cover 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm)
  • Classification: Vases
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1906
  • Object Number: 06.1117a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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