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Unknown Maker, Greek

Oil Flask (Lekythos)

Maker

Unknown Maker, Greek

Culture

Greek

Title

Oil Flask (Lekythos)

Year

390 BCE-300 BCE

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

clay

Geography

Place Made: Attica

Dimensions

Height: 12.3 cm (4 13/16 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Appropriation and Special Gift Funds

Object Number

25.085

Type

Exhibition History

Being and Believing in the Natural World
Perspectives from the Ancient Mediterranean, Asia, and Indigenous North America
Oct 22, 2022 – Jun 04, 2023

Label copy

According to Greek myth, Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, rose from the sea. As she walked along the coast, flowers grew under her feet. The personification of nature’s creative power, she was the mother of all living beings, protecting those who worshipped her. Many depictions of Aphrodite survive from ancient Greece and Rome, where they adorned homes, gardens, and sanctuaries. Wealthy patrons may have installed this bronze in a garden shrine. The oil flask may have been used for liquid offerings. On it, Aphrodite rides a chariot drawn by swans.

—GB

Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Greek
Oil Flask (Lekythos), 390 BCE-300 BCE
Terracotta; red-figure
Height: 12.3 cm (4 13/16 inches)
Museum Appropriation and Special Gift Funds 25.085

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