This Attic lekythos of the Classical period (clay, 440 BC, height 37.39 cm) is adorned with two solitary figures, the deceased and the mourner above the grave.
In the middle of 5th century BC, the deceased is depicted as alive or is completely absent from the scene. On this vase, she is identified with the figure on the right, due to the small "soul" fluttering above her head.
The illustration of the vase is attributed to the Achilles Painter, who was conventionally named after the amphora depicting Achilles in the Vatican Museum. He was the most important painter of the classical era, a contemporary of Phidias. The figures in his works, strict and imposing, embody the classical ideal. He was mainly concerned with the decoration of white lekythons, vases with a particularly delicate technique, which were intended for funerary use.
These vases, usually with colorful depictions on a white background, were decorated with themes such as visiting the tomb, sleep and death, or the intention of the deceased.
White lekythos were the most common offering in burials of the classical period. Their presence in tombs is associated with the use of oil to perfume the dead body. Often, there was a smaller space inside the vessel, so that it did not have to be filled completely and the precious liquid was saved.
Initially, the design was executed with faint outlines. After the mid-5th In the 1st century BC, the use of more colors became available and the brushstrokes acquired plasticity, depending on the fluidity of the color, a technique that ceramics apparently copied from great painting.
During the period 450-415 BC, which is considered the mature classical period of Attic vase painting, the influences from large plastic works and reliefs, mainly from the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, are particularly evident.
They are considered the most beautiful vases of Attic vase painting, as the figures they depict exude ethos and spirituality, modesty and restrained sadness.
Their production stopped almost simultaneously with the end of the Peloponnesian War.
