DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7897#0108
( 9« )
PLATE XXXVII.
Vases of this form (i) are, generally, but, erroneously, called lachiymatories,
and supposed to have been used at funerals. But more mature investigation
proves, that they are the lecythi(2), which served to contain perfumes, and vari-
ous cosmetics for the toilet. They were used also for oil, and together with a
strigil, were carried by ephebi to the palaestra and other places of exercise.
In the present instance, the purpose of the vase is expressed in the subject
with which it is ornamented. A lady seated on a chair of elegant form, receives
from a female attendant, an ornament for the head, and a small vase, pre-
cisely of the same form as that on which the painting is represented. The sur-
prize and pleasure expressed by the lady at seeing these objects, sheAvs that
they are presents. Perfumes, in fact, were commonly sent by lovers to their
mistresses (3).
The exclamation HE IIAI2 KAAE (7) %<uq nalvi), "the beautiful girl", which
always distinguishes vases offered to ladies, shews the intention of the subject (4),
and of the vase itself. A mirror, attribute of the toilet, is suspended on the wall.
Both figures are in the old Greek dress. The singularly disproportionate
size of the personages is sometimes remarkable on monuments of an early
period, and was the mode adopted to express moral distinctions. Examples of
this kind are found in the description of the shield of Achilles by Homer (5),
and even in the time of Phidias, it was still retained (6).
The style of design, though angular and rigid, is yet pleasing, by the natu-
ral gracefulness and simplicity for which the vases of this part of Magna Grsecia
are always remarkable.
(1) The vase is in the collection of J. J.
Middleton, Esq. of South Carolina. It was found
in the neighbourhood of Metapontium.
(2) A learned author, whose researches have
been of so great service to Archaeology, sup-
poses that the name of Lecjthus was applied
to fictile vases of all kinds. (Memoirs of
European and Asiatic Turkey, by R. Walpole,
page 3a6, note); whereas it was only given
to those used for perfumes and oil, and of a
form, more or less, like the present.
(3) Anacreon, Od. iv, Anthol. Gr. lib. 11.
(4) The letters on vases are partly in linear
and partly in cursive characters. Being in
general, very slightly traced, they are read
with difficulty by those who are not accus-
tomed to them. Hence, in a previous illustra-
tion of the present monument, the inscription
is strangely supposed to be KEXPI20, "be
perfumed".—Monum. Ined. di Antich. e Belle
Arti, Napoli, 1820,pag. 11.
(5) Aaoi £' iiOT^ove? rlrav. Iliad. 2, v. 519.
(6) Stuart. Antiquities of Athens, vol. 11.
Visconti, Elgin Marbles, pag. 64.
PLATE XXXVII.
Vases of this form (i) are, generally, but, erroneously, called lachiymatories,
and supposed to have been used at funerals. But more mature investigation
proves, that they are the lecythi(2), which served to contain perfumes, and vari-
ous cosmetics for the toilet. They were used also for oil, and together with a
strigil, were carried by ephebi to the palaestra and other places of exercise.
In the present instance, the purpose of the vase is expressed in the subject
with which it is ornamented. A lady seated on a chair of elegant form, receives
from a female attendant, an ornament for the head, and a small vase, pre-
cisely of the same form as that on which the painting is represented. The sur-
prize and pleasure expressed by the lady at seeing these objects, sheAvs that
they are presents. Perfumes, in fact, were commonly sent by lovers to their
mistresses (3).
The exclamation HE IIAI2 KAAE (7) %<uq nalvi), "the beautiful girl", which
always distinguishes vases offered to ladies, shews the intention of the subject (4),
and of the vase itself. A mirror, attribute of the toilet, is suspended on the wall.
Both figures are in the old Greek dress. The singularly disproportionate
size of the personages is sometimes remarkable on monuments of an early
period, and was the mode adopted to express moral distinctions. Examples of
this kind are found in the description of the shield of Achilles by Homer (5),
and even in the time of Phidias, it was still retained (6).
The style of design, though angular and rigid, is yet pleasing, by the natu-
ral gracefulness and simplicity for which the vases of this part of Magna Grsecia
are always remarkable.
(1) The vase is in the collection of J. J.
Middleton, Esq. of South Carolina. It was found
in the neighbourhood of Metapontium.
(2) A learned author, whose researches have
been of so great service to Archaeology, sup-
poses that the name of Lecjthus was applied
to fictile vases of all kinds. (Memoirs of
European and Asiatic Turkey, by R. Walpole,
page 3a6, note); whereas it was only given
to those used for perfumes and oil, and of a
form, more or less, like the present.
(3) Anacreon, Od. iv, Anthol. Gr. lib. 11.
(4) The letters on vases are partly in linear
and partly in cursive characters. Being in
general, very slightly traced, they are read
with difficulty by those who are not accus-
tomed to them. Hence, in a previous illustra-
tion of the present monument, the inscription
is strangely supposed to be KEXPI20, "be
perfumed".—Monum. Ined. di Antich. e Belle
Arti, Napoli, 1820,pag. 11.
(5) Aaoi £' iiOT^ove? rlrav. Iliad. 2, v. 519.
(6) Stuart. Antiquities of Athens, vol. 11.
Visconti, Elgin Marbles, pag. 64.