Exhibited Greek Attic Black-Figure Lekythos, Cock Group

**Originally Listed At $2000**

Ancient Greece, Athens, ca. early 5th century BCE. A beautiful black-figure lekythos - a vessel used to hold perfumes or other scented oils. Painted in black figure around the body is a scene of two lions attacking a bull. The black base has attained a slight silvery iridescence over time. On the nearly flat shoulder is the characteristic mark of the "Cock Group" of painters: a stylized cock between leaves. Fascinatingly, this group produced hundreds of lekythoi in the last quarter of the 6th century and early 5th century which were sold in Athens and exported around the eastern Mediterranean, with several discovered in Anatolia. Size: 2.6" W x 5.55" H (6.6 cm x 14.1 cm)

Lekythoi were used for storing oil used for a wide variety of purposes in the Classical World. While larger examples were usually designated for keeping olive oil, smaller, more delicate examples like this one were reserved for the bath to store precious unguents of sweet and floral aromas. Lekythoi were also popular grave gifts. This beautiful vessel was most likely created for an elegant lady's toilette, and, later, to mark her tomb.

Cf. another from this group, exhibited Archaologische Sammlung, Univ. Zurich, 1987, and published by H. Bloesch.

Exhibited: Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, 1996-2003; George Mason University, 2003-2007

Provenance: private Alabama, USA collection; ex-Roy Green collection; ex-private K. F. collection, Garden City, Michigan, USA, acquired from Royal Athena in 1985; ex-Schindler and Herzfeld collection, dispersed at M&M, Basel, Switzerland (December 1983, lot 49)

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#148682
Condition Report: Repaired at neck and handle. Light wear on surface commensurate with age including some pitting and loss to pigment. Light silvery iridescence around base.