Main panel: decoration left of head

Main panel: head rising from flower

Main panel: decoration left of head

Main panel: decoration under handle

Overview: handle left

Main panel: decoration right of head

Collection: Cambridge, Harvard University Art Museums
Summary: Head in oriental cap rising from a flower
Ware: Apulian Red Figure
Painter: Related to the Alabastra Group
Date: ca. 335 BC - ca. 320 BC
Dimensions:

H. 0.179 m.; D. 0.084 m.

Primary Citation: Trendall & Cambitoglou 1982, 608, no. 21/33 (as 1972.235).
Shape: Squat lekythos
Period: Late Classical/Early Hellenistic


Condition:

Broken and repaired, with minor restoration.

Decoration Description:

A youthful head, facing left and wearing an oriental cap, is emerging from a large flower growing from the groundline below. Long ringlets of hair, drawn with thinned glaze, fall down the youth's shoulder beneath the trailing ends of the cap. On either side, growing from the same source, are long coiling and spiraling tendrils, flowers, buds, and acanthus leaves. Added white, tinted yellow with a wash of dilute glaze, is used to highlight numerous details of the foliage and to color the cap and the top of the central flower; additional spots and streaks of dilute glaze give the cap a leathery color.

On the back of the vase, beneath the handle, is a large upright palmette, flanked by vertical scrolls, buds, and half-palmettes; the palmettes have yellow cores, and yellow dots and highlights are sprinkled through the stylized foliage. On the shoulder is a band of eggs with white cores separated by black dots; the eggs circling the lower body are drawn with added white, as are the dots. Tall black tongues decorate the neck, and the groove between foot and body is tinted with a red wash. The foot is black; the irregular blacking of the mouth, handle, and upper neck are the result of careless dipping.

Shape Description:

Squat lekythos of typical late Apulian type: ovoid body; tall, tapering neck; tall trumpet mouth; grooved foot in three degrees; broad groove between foot and body.

Collection History:

Bequest of Frederick M. Watkins.

Sources Used:

Watkins 1973, 74-75.

Other Bibliography:

Art of the Ancients, Emmerich Gallery (New York 1968) 37, no. 45; Fogg Art Museum, The Frederick M. Watkins Collection (Cambridge, Mass. 1973) 74-75, no. 30; RVAp, 2.608, no. 21/33 (as 1972.235).