The monument was presumably erected in memory of the long-haired girl who clasps her father’s hand, while her seated mother presents a bird to her little sister. Technical examination in raking light reveals that each zone of the lekythos was originally painted. Traces of rays are visible on the base. The central relief is framed by horizontal bands with a meander pattern below and an egg-and-dart border above. Three palmettes flanked by elaborate curling tendrils appear on the shoulder. Although the carving of the figures is not particularly fine, painted decoration would have enhanced the details.
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This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Detail in raking light, showing palmette on the shoulder and egg-and-dart border on the body
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Detail of the shoulder in raking light, showing curling tendrils
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Detail in raking light, showing a meander pattern below the figures, and rays on the base
Digitally enhanced raking light image showing both the egg and dart band just below shoulder, and a palmette on the shoulder.
Artwork Details
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Title:Marble funerary lekythos
Period:Late Classical
Date:ca. 375–350 BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Marble, Pentelic ?
Dimensions:H. as restored 40 1/2 in. (102.9 cm)
Classification:Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1912
Accession Number:12.159
[Until 1912, with E. Triantaphyllos, Athens]; acquired in 1912, purchased from E. Triantaphyllos.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1913. "Department of Classical Art: Recent Accessions of 1912." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 8(2): p. 29.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1913. "Classical Department: The Accessions of 1912. Sculptures, Terracottas, and Miscellaneous Objects." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 8(8): pp. 173–74, fig. 1.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1917. Handbook of the Classical Collection. p. 225, fig. 137, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1927. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 262, 264, fig. 185, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 262, 264, fig. 185, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1933. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 5th ed. pp. 130–31, fig. 156, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1941. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 6th ed. pp. 130–31, fig. 156, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1950. The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, 3rd edn. pp. 174, 518, fig. 495, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 108, 247, pl. 87a, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1954. Catalogue of Greek Sculptures. no. 89, pp. 60–61, pls. 73a–c, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Schmaltz, Bernhard. 1970. "Untersuchungen zu den Attischen Marmorlekythen. Ph.D. diss." Ph.D. Diss. p. 126. Universität des Saarlandes.
Woysch-Méautis, Daphné. 1982. La Représentation des Animaux et des êtres Fabuleux sur les Monuments Funéraires Grecs: de l'époque archaïque à la fin du IVe siècle av. J.-C., Cahiers d'archéologie romande de la Bibliothèque historique vaudoise, No. 21. no. 130, p. 115, pl. 22, Lausanne: Bibliothèque Historique Vaudoise.
Clairmont, Christoph W. 1993. Classical Attic Tombstones, Vol. 3. no. 3.810, p. 426, Kilchberg: Akanthus.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 162, pp. 144, 435, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Zanker, Paul. 2022. Afterlives : Ancient Greek Funerary Monuments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 30, pp. 103–5, New York: Scala Publishers.
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