Pyxis main panel: antelope

Pyxis main panel: lion

Lid: siren

Pyxis main panel: siren

Pyxis main panel: lion

Pyxis upper panel: zigzags

Collection: Toledo Museum of Art
Summary: Animal friezes.
Ware: Corinthian
Painter: Attributed to the Havana Painter
Context: Said to be found in Selinus
Date: ca. 600 BC
Dimensions:

H. 0.119 m., h. with lid 0.202 m., d. rim 0.185 m., d. with handles 0.211 m., d. base 0.181 m., h. of lid 0.088 m., d. lid 0.194 m.

Shape: Pyxis with lid
Region: Sicily
Period: Archaic


Condition:

Part of siren's wing and most of lion's face in adjacent friezes obliterated.

Decoration Description:

The body of the vessel has an animal frieze with siren, lion, siren, lion, and antelope posed among incised rosettes. In the upper zone between the handles a procession of water birds marches around one side of the vessel; the other side is filled with vertical zigzags. Separating this area from the main panel, and filling an area below the main panel as well, is double-row dicing bounded above and below by pairs of lines. Rays cover the base. The reflex handles and the underside of the base are spurred and reserved.

The lid holds another animal frieze?two lions and a standing bird?among incised rosettes. This frieze is separated from the knob by double-row dicing and rays. The knob itself has tongues, bands, and three-row dicing. The lid's underside is reserved and flanged.

Sources Used:

CVA, USA fasc. 20, pp. 7-8, pl. 74-75

Other Bibliography:

Münzen, 5 Oktober 1963, p. 30 and pl. 19, no. 61; Riefstahl 1968, p. 31; Luckner 1972, p. 86, fig. 39; Amyx, D. A., and P. Lawrence, Corinth VII, 2 (1975), p. 24, under no. 47; Amyx 1988, p. 129, no. 1.