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Oil flask (lekythos)
Greek
Late Archaic Period
510–500 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, Black Figure
Dimensions
25.9 cm (10 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Anonymous gift
Accession Number93.102
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
DescriptionHerakles and the Cretan bull. Herakles grasps one horn with his right hand, and squeezes the bull's neck with his left arm. Herakles' distinctive club hangs in the foliage behind him along with his cloak and on the right, his quiver. A decorative meander frames the scene above and below.
"The Cactus Painter is also capable of a delicacy we miss in much Leagran work. He is named for the prickly pears on his palmette tendrils" (J. Boardman, p.114, Athenian Black Figure Vases: a handbook).
Condition: A piece on the shoulder of the vase is missing.
"The Cactus Painter is also capable of a delicacy we miss in much Leagran work. He is named for the prickly pears on his palmette tendrils" (J. Boardman, p.114, Athenian Black Figure Vases: a handbook).
Condition: A piece on the shoulder of the vase is missing.
ProvenanceBy 1893: with Mr. de Caix de Saint-Aymour in Paris (said to have been found in the island of Euboea, at Eretria); purchased from him by an Anonymous donor; Anonymous gift to MFA, March 1893