Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei (Budapest, 2007)
ANDRÁS MÁRTON AND GYÖRGY NEMES: Corinthian White-Ground Lekythoi
The star visible beside the edge of the shield could be a shielddevice/' The greyish-blue ribbon on the upper part of the picture may originally have decorated a grave stele. 7 We may therefore be dealing with a duel between two warriors in a funerary context: possibly in front of a tomb monument/ This theme is unknown in Corinthian white lekythoi and is also rare on Attic examples. Redfigure loutrophoroi with battle scenes, which appear in the age of the Persian Wars, and the reliefs decorating the so-called casualty-lists that listed the names of the dead, might have served as a model. 1 ' The earliest white-ground lekythos with a duel scene was made in Athens around 450 BC. 10 The variation of a duel taking place in front of a funerary monument can be connected, in Attica, to the period of the Peloponnesian War." It may be assumed that it influenced the decoration of Corinthian vases. Palmer's group ii, ca. 450-420 BC. WHITE-GROUND LEKYTHOS (DETAI L). BUDAPEST. MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS 2. WHITE-GROUND LEKYTHOS (FIGS. 5~8) 12 High disk foot with flat edges; slightly dilated cylindrical body. Deep trumpet mouth, strap handle from shoulder to neck folding back under the rim of the mouth. Lustreless brownish-black glaze covers the inside and outside of the mouth, the neck, the inner and outer sides of the handle, the lower part of the body, and the upper side of the foot. Browmish-yellow slip darkens the yellow clay on the side of the foot." The shoulder and the body of the vase is covered with bad-quality, at times rather thin, multi-layered white paint which has totally worn off in several places on the body. On the shoulder, there are traces of palmettes connected with tendrils (fig. 7). On the body, the figure of a woman stepping forward with her left foot, extending her left arm forward and her right hand downwards 14 (fig. 8). Her red hair is short: a lock curls in front of her ear. Judging by the hairstyle, the figure depicts a girl or a young woman." Her neck is thick; her profile was painted with a single brush stroke from the forehead to the tip of the nose. Her chin is bold and roughly drawn. She wears a long, sleeveless belted chiton. A vertical red stripe runs along the middle of her dress. The painter was a mediocre artist, as can be seen from the fingers of the left hand, the legs, and the edge of the dress, which is drawn with several lines. Behind the figure, an unusually large mirror can be seen. 16 As the rest of the painting has completely worn off it is impossible to guess whether there were any other supplementary' elements in the composition. An early piece of Palmer's group iii, ca. 425-415 BC.
