Because the framing niche that once surrounded this relief is missing, there are no inscriptions that might identify the deceased. Both the seated man and the veiled woman behind him stare straight ahead, as if the young woman who gazes down at them were invisible. Do they mourn their dead daughter? Does she mourn her dead father, or is she the sole survivor of the group? Despite its ambiguity and solemn sadness, the relief conveys an intense, though restrained, sense of family unity. Carved by a master, this grave stele is one of the most magnificent examples from the classical period.

Said to have been found in Attica (Richter 1954, p. 57, no. 83).

Acquired January 14, 1911, purchased from G. Yanacopoulos, Paris.

Richter, Gisela M.A. 1911. "Department of Classical Art: Recent Accessions." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 6(11): p. 211.

Chase, G. H. 1924. Greek and Roman Sculpture in American Collections. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, pp. 102-3, fig. 123.

Richter, G. M. A. 1954. Catalogue of Greek Sculptures. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, pp. 56-57, no. 83, pls. LXVII, LXVIII, a-d.

Clairmont, C. 1993. Classical Attic Tombstones. Vol. 3. Kilchberg: Akanthus, pp. 475 76, no. 3.846.

Leader, R. E. 1997. "In Death Not Divided: Gender, Family, and State on Classical Athenian Grave Stelae." American Journal of Archaeology 101: 696, n. 71.

Stewart, A. 1997. Art, Desire, and the Body in Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 46, fig. 29.

Himmelmann, N. 2000. "Quotations of Images of Gods and Heroes on Attic Grave Reliefs of the Late Classical Period." In Periplous: Papers on Classical Art and Archaeology Presented to Sir John Boardman, edited by G. R. Tsetskhladze, A. J. N. W. Prag, and A. M. Snodgrass. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 143.

Coscia, Joseph, Jr. and Elizabeth J. Milleker. 2003. Light on Stone: Greek and Roman Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Photographic Essay. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 100, pls. 38-41.

Geominy, W. 2004. "Die Zeit von 390 bis 360 v. Chr." In P. C. Bol et al., Die Geschichte der antiken Bildhauerkunst. Mainz: P. von Zabern, vol. 2, pp. 265, 268ff., 276, 285, 298, figs. 203, 205, a, b.

Picón, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 159, pp. 141, 435.