Squat lekythos (Apulian Gnathian ware)
350 BCE
Medium
earthenware
Measurements
23.2 × 10.8 cm diameter
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1972
© Public Domain
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts - Great Hall Costume Corridor
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
The Gnathian technique involved applying colours – usually white, red, yellow or orange – straight onto the black glaze. This lekythos, a vessel used for dispensing oil, is one of the few Gnathian ware vases to have figured decoration rather than just patternwork. The flute player on the left turns to look at the small figure of Eros, the Greek god of love, bringing her the gift of a red patterned box. The scene is framed by two fruit trees, the trunks and branches delicately incised. The use of incision for the branches is an early characteristic of Gnathian ware and dates this vase to the middle of the fourth century BCE.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Apulia, Italy
Accession Number
D17-1972
Department
Antiquities
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Physical description
Small lekythos/jar with stout body, narrow neck, strap handle and cup-shaped mouth. Decorated in black glaze and a scene in the Gnathia technique of applied colour. On the neck, vertical strokes and on the shoulder a scroll pattern above yellow pendants. The scene is framed between two fruit trees; a woman on the left with a flute, dressed in a long embroidered yellow dress, turns back to a naked Eros on the right holding a box. The wings of Eros are elaborately rendered in red, yellow and white.