Menu
Search
Main Site Gandhara ConnectionsVase Corpus (CVA Online)
Search

Attic red-figure

Xenophantos's signed squat lekythos

Xenophantos's signed squat lekythos

[View larger image]

Photograph: M.Tiverios, Elliniki Techni

Museum: St. Petersburg, State Museum of the Hermitage
Size: 38.5cm (squat lekythos)
Function: special funerary gift?
Technique: red-figure with figures in relief, painted white with gilded details (body) or gilded.
Style: ornate and exotic
Subject/s: Body: Persians hunt boar and stag, but also fantastic animals griffin and lion-griffin, on foot, on horseback and in two-wheeled chariots. A palm and an acanthus pillar supporting a tripod stand in the background. Shoulder: three scenes – Nike driving a two-wheeled chariot with a Persian archer beside, Gigantomachy (Athena, Herakles, Giant) and Centauromachy. Above, in a zone marked off by raised ridges Xenophantos the Athenian made this.
Date: early 4th c.
Analysis: the very large size, many figures, much white and gilt, reveal a very special piece. Found at Kerch, ancient Pantikapion, it may have been a funerary gift. Although the addition of figures in relief to the surface of the vase has a long tradition in Athens, it is never common, and never as ornate as this.


Site map Copyright Accessibility Privacy statement Contact us
Gandhara Connections
Gandhara Connections on Facebook
Gandhara Connections on Twitter
Back to top