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The lekythos was used for anointing unmarried women's dead bodies, and many lekythoi are found in tombs. The images on lekythoi were often depictions of daily activities or rituals. Because they are so often used in funerary situations, they may also depict funerary rites, a scene of loss, or a sense of departure as a form of funerary art ...
The Thanatos Painter (5th century BCE) was an Athenian Ancient Greek vase painter who painted scenes of death on white-ground cylindrical lekythoi. [1] All of the Thanatos Painter's found lekythoi have scenes of or related to death (thanatos in Greek) on them, including the eponymous god of death Thanatos carrying away dead bodies. [2]
English: Attic funerary lekythos for Myrrhine, represented while she is taken by hand by Hermes psychopompos to be escorted to Hades. From Athens, circa 420/410 BC. From Athens, circa 420/410 BC. On display in Room 10 of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens .
Many funerary steles show the deceased, usually sitting or sometimes standing, clasping the hand of a standing survivor, often the spouse. When a third onlooker is present, the figure may be their adult child. Women played a major role in funeral rites. They were in charge of preparing the body, which was washed, anointed and adorned with a wreath.
The fifth style was polychrome lekythos painting. It replaced Early Classical lekythos painting around the middle of the 5th century BC. By this time, white-ground can be identified most closely with three principal shapes: the lekythos, the krater, and cups. [9] Black shiny slip and white paint now disappeared from the paintings.
The lekythos was another style of funerary vase that usually held ritual oil. It had a slender body with a single handle. One famous artist of lekythoi was the Achilles Painter. Funeral lekythoi were often painted in the white ground technique. The kylix, popular at symposiums, was a stout drinking cup with a very wide bowl.
The vessels of the Reed Painter are typical of white-ground lekythoi in that they often focus on real people, in contrast to the earlier black-figure tradition that featured scenes of mythical figures pertaining to Dionysiac cult. [1] The purpose of the lekythos is often reflected in its subject matter.
A lekythos in New York shows a funeral scene, typical of white-ground painting: Achilles is mourning Patroclus; the nereids bring him new weapons. The Eretria Painter's drawing style influenced later artists, e.g. the Meidias Painter and his school.