White-Ground Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Youths at Tomb (c. 420–400 BCE): Art, History and Details

White-Ground Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Youths at Tomb (c. 420–400 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Group R (Greek, Attic, active c. 420–410 BCE).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This white-ground lekythos, a large funerary oil vessel, shows three youths at a tomb. The one seated in the center likely represents the deceased, while those standing on either side are mourners. Although much of the pigment is now lost, the strong use of line and three-quarter views have been cited by some scholars as possibly reflecting the lost works of the famous wall-painter Parrhasios.

Object facts

• Title: White-Ground Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Youths at Tomb
• Date: c. 420–400 BCE
• Creator attribution: Group R (Greek, Attic, active c. 420–410 BCE)
• Culture: Greek, Attic
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic
• Dimensions: Overall: 49.5 cm (19 1/2 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1928.859

A detail from the museum

White-ground vases give some idea of the appearance of ancient wall painting.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive.
• Beazley, J. D. Attic White Lekythoi. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1938.
• Cox, Warren E. The Book of Pottery and Porcelain. New York: L. Lee and Shepard Co.; distributed by Crown Publishers, 1944.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.