Lekythos 500 BC

Curator: This is a lekythos created around 500 BC by the Class of Athens 581. It’s currently held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Primarily made of ceramic, this vase utilizes drawing to depict figures. Editor: You know, the first thing that strikes me is its sense of movement. Even frozen in time, the action feels really dynamic, almost theatrical. The stark black figures against the pale ground just leap out. Curator: Precisely. Lekythoi served a practical function, often used for storing oil, particularly in funerary rituals. But they also functioned as canvases for social narratives. Note the decoration around the neck of the vase. The craftsmanship is evident. Editor: I can't help but imagine the artisan, the potter, carefully layering the slip, considering the clay's properties, the firing process. I feel that the potter would not be separate from the concept artist. Curator: Indeed, the black-figure technique involves a sophisticated process. The artist would paint the figures with a slip that vitrifies black during firing, while reserved areas of clay retain their reddish hue. Incisions add detail, allowing for a narrative clarity accessible to its contemporary audience. It invites considering of labor, materiality, and intended consumer. Editor: I wonder, what stories did it tell in its day? Now, it feels ancient, and a little fragile. Curator: Art history suggests scenes of warfare or athletic contests would have been prevalent. I think a lekythos also points to larger cultural concepts, particularly concerning mortality. These were functional objects imbricated within systems of class and burial practice. Editor: Looking at it now, it seems like a beautiful relic from a long-lost civilization. All these thousands of years later, it gives me goosebumps, linking me to people who once breathed and felt just as we do now. Curator: Absolutely, reflecting on how our relationship to this object shapes the dialogue we imagine across time and the stories they hold.