Vase Catalog Number: Harvard 1925.30.51

Decoration:

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.

Inscriptions:

Inscription to the right of the youth's head: KALOS.

Parallels:

Beazley attributed it to the same artist who painted Palermo, Banco di Sicilia, 27: ARV2, 1643, 22. He included both in his list of Side-palmette Lekythoi, associated with the workshop of the Diosphos Painter.

Collection History:

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

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.

Shape Description:

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

Sources Used:

CVA, Hoppin-Gallatin.

Other Bibliography:

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

(Michael Padgett)