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Grave marker In shape of a lekythos (oil or perfume container):  Nikokles and Autokrates standing next to their seated sister Aristonike
Grave marker In shape of a lekythos (oil or perfume container): Nikokles and Autokrates standing next to their seated sister Aristonike

Grave marker In shape of a lekythos (oil or perfume container): Nikokles and Autokrates standing next to their seated sister Aristonike

Date350 - 323 B.C.
Label TextAristonike, a young Athenian woman, clasps the hand of one of her two brothers as she sits in front of a servant. This quiet domestic scene is repeated with different players on thousands of Athenian grave markers. Lekythoi, used in the Greek world to hold oil and perfume, proved popular shapes for monuments to deceased women. Often they are shown seated, head slightly inclined (like the head carved in high relief on the wall adjacent to the doorway), surrounded by family or servants. Here, Aristonike is posed among her brothers, an indication that she had no husband, and likely died at a young age.
Object number55.204
Provenance(Possibly William Randolph Heast collection); [Sotheby's, July 31-August 1, 1939, lot no. 43]; (unknown, 1939-1955); Norman Davis, Seattle, 1955; gift from Mr. Davis to Seattle Art Museum in memory of his brother Ellis Davis, December 14, 1955
Published ReferencesAnnual Report. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum. 1955. Illus. The Art Quarterly, Vol. XIX, no. 2, Summer 1956, p. 198, illus. Fasti Archaeologici XI. 1956. No. 248 Schmaltz, Bernard. Untersuchungen zu den attischen Marmorlekythen. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1970, Cat. no. A254, pp. 25, 45-47, 56, 59, 95, 142 Vermeule, Cornelius C. Greek Art: Socrates to Sulla. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts. 1980, pp. 31-32, 36, 122, fig. 41. Vermeule, Cornelius C. Greek and Roman Sculpture in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, Ltd. 1981, Cat. no. 75, p. 106. de Haitre-Ford, Micheline. Etude des mosaique de Venus et d'Orphee en Grande-Bretagne aus bas-empire. Ottawa: Bibliotheque nationale du Canada. 1985. Bliquez, Lawrence J. Classical Vases and Containers in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1985, illus. p. 26 Clairmont, Christoph W. Classical Attic Tombstones. Kilchberg, Switzerland: Akanthus, 1993 Grossman, Janet Burnett, The Athenian Agora, Results of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Volume XXXV, Funerary Sculpture, 2013, fig. 7, pg.24
Credit LineGift of Norman Davis, in memory of his brother, Ellis Davis
Dimensions42 1/16 in. (106.8 cm) Girth: 41 1/2 in.
MediumMarble
Oil or Perfume Container:  Lekythos
Greek
ca. 500 B.C.
Object number: 70.100
White Ground Lekythos (oil or perfume container)
Greek
ca. 420 B.C.- 400 B.C.
Object number: 70.101
White Ground Lekythos, (oil or perfume container)
Greek, Attica
ca. 480 - 323 B.C.
Object number: 47.62
Oil Jar:  Lekythos
700-500 B.C.
Object number: 70.124
Head of a woman from a grave stele
350 - 325 B.C.
Object number: 60.60
Oil or Perfume container:  Alabastron, Lotus Flowers
Greek
ca. 600 B.C.
Object number: 63.67
Standing ascetic; subsequent Mughal lintel
Indian
ca. 11th century
Object number: 63.28
Standing Buddha
Chinese
ca. 565-577
Object number: 43.99
Photo: Paul Macapia
Greek
3rd-2nd century B.C.
Object number: 48.81
Portrait head of a young woman
Roman
1st-2nd century
Object number: 59.98