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Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Attributed to the Sappho Painter
ca. 500 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 154
Thetis in chariot with winged horses flying over the sea accompanied by the messenger gods, Iris and Hermes.

This scene may reflect a passage in the last book of the Iliad (book 24, lines 95-96). Summoned to Mount Olympos, the sea nymph Thetis is ordered by Zeus to convince her son, Achilles, to return the body of his enemy Hector to Priam, the king of Troy, for proper burial.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)
  • Artist: Attributed to the Sappho Painter
  • Period: Archaic
  • Date: ca. 500 BCE
  • Culture: Greek, Attic
  • Medium: Terracotta; black-figure, white-ground
  • Dimensions: H. 16 13/16 in. (42.7 cm); diameter 2 13/16 in. (7.2 cm)
  • Classification: Vases
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1941
  • Object Number: 41.162.34
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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