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

350 - 323 B.C.

Aristonike, 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.

Marble

42 1/16 in. (106.8 cm)

Girth: 41 1/2 in.

Gift of Norman Davis, in memory of his brother, Ellis Davis

55.204

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

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

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

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