Main panel: hunter and his prey

Main panel: palmettes and hunter's prey on right

Shoulder: palmette decoration

Overview: handle left

Shoulder: palmette decoration

Overview: handle rear

Collection: Cambridge, Harvard University Art Museums
Summary: Hunter with animals slung from pole.
Ware: Attic Red Figure, White Ground
Painter: Attributed to the Painter of the Side-palmette Lekythoi
Potter: Attributed to Diosphos Potter
Date: ca. 480 BC - ca. 470 BC
Dimensions:

H. 0.204 m.; D. 0.7 m.

Primary Citation: ARV2, 302, 21, and 1643; Beazley Addenda 2, 212.
Shape: Lekythos
Beazley Number: 203118
Period: Early Classical


Condition:

Lip broken and mended. There is some abrasion, including parts of the youth, particularly the right leg and mouth. The white slip is worn in many places.

Decoration Description:

A nude young hunter is returning home. He walks to the right with a pole over his left shoulder, from which are suspended a fox (left) and a hare (right). The pelt of both animals is tinted with dilute glaze, the rabbit's scumbled to suggest its furrier texture. The youth touches the fox with his right hand while twisting around to look backwards. A cloak with a black border is draped over his arms.

The shoulder as well as the upper two thirds of the body are coated with white slip; the lower body is black, with two reserved stripes. At the base of the neck is a band of simple, unframed tongues. On the shoulder are five linked black palmettes, the middle one pointing downwards, the others up. Above the figure is a band of key pattern to right, framed by paired black stripes that continue around the body. On either side of the figure is a pair of large palmettes, vertical and addorsed, which are linked and enclosed by a common tendril (it is these that give Side-palmette Lekythoi their name). The riser of the foot is reserved, the lower fillet black. The mouth and the outside of the handle are black.

Shape Description:

Beazley's Class DL, the principal type favored by the Diosphos Painter.

Inscriptions:

Inscription to the right of the youth's head: *K*A*L*O*S.

Collection History:

Bequest of J. C. Hoppin. Bought in Athens in 1897.

Sources Used:

CVA, Hoppin-Gallatin.

Other Bibliography:

CVA, Hoppin-Gallatin, USA 1, 12, pl. 9, 5.