61. 96.721 WHITE LEKYTHOS Man and woman at stele PLATE XXVIII and FIGURE 38 (SUPPL. PLATE 4)
Height, 0.381 m.; diameter, 0.123 m. Broken, but nearly complete. The surface crackled. The shoulder decoration in dull grey and red: egg-pattern and three palmettes connected by spirals; the spirals have five black and six red leaves. The maeander and the ground-line in glaze. The picture drawn in glaze lines, with details in bright red and dull grey. Ann. Rep. 1896, p. 33, no. 3. Fairbanks, Athenian White Lekythoi, i, p. 263, no. 9, Pl. XIII. Riezler, figs. 14, 15 (left). Buschor, Attische Lekythen der Parthenonzeit, p. 14. In the centre a stele with simple top and a small moulding at the base of the shaft, set on two steps. Two red fillets are tied round the shaft, and another is draped about the steps. At the left a woman stands with her body almost in front view, her head in profile, holding a large, shallow basket from which several red fillets depend. Her short hair is sketchily rendered in broad lines of glaze varying from light to dark brown. The contours of the upper part of her figure and of her feet are drawn in glaze lines, whereas the contours of her legs show as faint grey lines. There are traces of a red garment on her right upper arm, across her ankles, and to the right of the leg. The side of the basket is decorated with a wreath and a toothed pattern in dull black. Facing her at the right of the stele, a bearded man with body in front view and head turned towards her, his right hand resting on the top of a knotted stick, his left arm enveloped in a bright red himation. The contours of his legs and the folds of the mantle are drawn in lines of deeper red. The stick is done in glaze lines with dull black lines inaccurately laid over them. The two lekythoi, no. 60 and no. 61 (Boston 00.359 and Boston 96.721), are obviously by the same hand. All four heads show a strong resemblance in the long nose, the small upper lip and full lower lip, the double line of the nostril, the drawing of the upper eyelid by two lines with a projecting line to indicate the lashes. The rendering of the hair in hasty zigzag brush strokes, the short necks, the drawing of the frontal feet, the overlaying of the spear on no. 60 (Boston 00.359) and the stick on no. 61 (Boston 96.721) with black lines are further points of similarity. Buschor connects these two lekythoi with numerous others which he ascribes to the Thanatos painter, so called after the well-known lekythos in London, no. 10 below (London D 58). He regards this artist as influenced by the Achilles painter, and to be ranked second to him among the decorators of white lekythoi. Beazley accepts the nucleus of Buschor's list, but eliminates certain pieces, and adds others. The revised list of his works is as follows:- (1) Athens 12792, Riezler, Pl. 28.
- (2) Athens 1981.
- (3) Athens 1993, Fairbanks, i, p. 270, no. 15, fig. 53.
- (4) Athens 1960, Riezler, Pl. 29.
- (5) Athens 1942, Riezler, Pl. 30.
- (6) Athens 1761, Riezler, Pl. 31.
- (7) Athens 1797, Riezler, Pl. 32.
- (8) Athenian market.
- (9) Athenian market.
- (10) London D 58, Murray and Smith, White Athenian Vases, Pl. 11.
- (11) London D 57, Murray and Smith, White Athenian Vases, Pl. 1.
- (12) London D 60, Murray and Smith, White Athenian Vases, Pl. 6.
- (13) London D 67, C. Smith, Catalogue, iii, Pl. XXII.
- (14) Elgin Collection.
- (15) Elgin Collection.
- (16) Humfry Payne Collection.
- (17) Berlin 3160, Riezler, Pl. 27.
- (18) Berlin 3963, Riezler, Pl. 53.
- (19) Berlin 3964, Riezler, Pl. 55.
- (20) Bonn, Bonner Studien, p. 155, Pl. 10.
- (21) Tübingen, fragment 1725, not in the Catalogue.
- (22) New York, Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum, xi, 1916, p. 128, fig. 5.
- (23) Boston 00.359, our no. 60, Pl. XXVIII.
- (24) Boston 96.721, our no. 61, Pl. XXVIII.
- (25) Boston 94.127, Fairbanks, ii, p. 25, no. 14, Pl. V.
- (26) Boston 09.69, Fairbanks, ii, Appendix, p. 253, no. 8 a.
- (27) Boston 09.70, Fairbanks, ii, Appendix, p. 253, no. 8 b.1
ARV, p. 809, no. 18; ARV2, p. 1229, no. 24; Felten 1971, p. 27; Kurtz 1975, p. 39, note 12; Nakayama 1982, pp. 63, 206 (no. A-IV-15), 260, pl. 8; CVA, Tübingen, 5, p. 62, under no. S./10 1723 (J. Burow); CVA, Kiel, 1, p. 93, under no. B 344 (B. Freyer-Schauenburg); Beazley 1989, p. 34.