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Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Attributed to the Amasis Painter 

Period:
Archaic
Date:
ca. 550–530 B.C.
Culture:
Greek, Attic
Medium:
Terracotta; black-figure
Dimensions:
H. 6 3/4 in. (17.15 cm)
Classification:
Vases
Credit Line:
Fletcher Fund, 1931
Accession Number:
31.11.10
  • Description

    On the shoulder, a seated woman, perhaps a goddess, is approached by four youths and eight dancing maidens
    On the body, women are making woolen cloth.

    One of the most important responsibilities of women was the preparation of wool and the weaving of cloth. Here, in the center, two women work at an upright loom. To the right, three women weigh wool. Farther to the right, four women spin wool into yarn, while between them finished cloth is being folded.

  • Provenance

    Said to be from Attica (Richter 1931, p. 289).

    Acquired September 28, 1931, purchased from C.T. Seltman, Esq., Cambridge, UK.

  • References

    Richter, Gisela M.A. 1931. "A Stand by Kleitias and an Athenian Jug." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 26(12): pp. 291-94, figs. 4-5.

    Faxon, Harriet. 1932. "A Model of an Ancient Greek Loom." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 27(3): pp. 70-71, figs. 1-2.

    McClees, H. 1933. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans as Illustrated in the Classical Collections. 5th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 41, fig. 47.

    Wace, A. J. B. 1934. "The Veil of Despoina." American Journal of Archaeology 38: 111, n. 3.

    Haspels, C. H. E. 1936. Attic Black-Figured Lekythoi. Paris: E. de Boccard, pp. 12, 14, 99.

    Beazley, J. D. 1956. Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 154, no. 57, p. 688.

    Richter, Gisela M.A. 1970. "The Department of Greek and Roman Art: Triumphs and Tribulations." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3: pp. 84, 87, fig. 30.

    McLauchlin, B. K. 1981. "New Evidence on the Mechanics of Loom Weights." American Journal of Archaeology 85: 80, n. 14.

    Bothmer, D. von. 1985. The Amasis Painter and His World: Vase Painting in Sixth-Century B.C. Athens. Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum; New York: Thames & Hudson, pp. 185-87, no. 48, ill.

    Keuls, E. C. 1985. The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens. New York: Harper & Row, p. 106, fig. 93, a, b.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. Greece and Rome. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 22, p. 37.

    Barber, E. J. W. 1991. Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, with Special Reference to the Aegean. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 72, 92, n. 7, figs. 2.38, 3.13.

    Isler, H. P. 1994. "Der Töpfer Amasis und der Amasis-Maler." Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 109: 113.

    Palagia, Olga. 1999. “‘Through a Glass Darkly’ II: Misconceptions about the Study of Greek Sculpture.” In Proceedings of the XVth International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Amsterdam, July 12-17, 1998: Classical Archaeology towards the Third Millennium: Reflections and Perspectives, eds. Roald F. Docter and Eric M. Moormann. Amsterdam, Allard Pierson Museum, p. 299 n. 9.

    Wagner-Hasel, B. 2002. "The Graces and Colour Weaving." In Women's Dress in the Ancient Greek World, edited by L. Llewellyn-Jones. London: Duckworth and Classical Press of Wales, pp. 24-25, fig. 3.

    Llewellyn-Jones, L. 2003. Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece. London: Classical Press of Wales, p. 222, figs. 150a, 150b.

    Neils, J. 2003. "Children and Greek Religion." In J. Neils and J. H. Oakley et al., Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 151, figs. 10a, 10b.

    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. 73, pp. 76, 420.

    Moore, Mary B. 2007. “The Princeton Painter in New York.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 42: pp. 32-33, fig. 19.

  • See also
130013840

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