Lekythos with Achilles Ambushing Polyxena

Artist The Athena Painter (Greek)

Place of OriginGreece, made in Athens

Date500-490 BCE

Dimensions10 15/16 × 3 11/16 × 2 1/16 × 3 11/16 × 2 11/16 in. (27.8 × 9.4 × 5.2 × 9.4 × 6.8 cm)

MediumBlack Figure; Wheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware with incised details

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1947.62

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionThis black-figure lekythos is wheel-thrown and decorated with slip-painted figural imagery. It is relatively tall and narrow with a small mouth and single handle. The surface retains areas of original glaze, though parts—especially Polyxena’s limbs, the rock midsection, and Achilles’ helmet crest—have flaked and been selectively repainted. A white-ground panel contains the scene of Achilles crouching behind a fountain as Polyxena fills a hydria. A tree rises behind the rock spring; a bird is perched in its branches. Achilles’ shield features a tripod emblem. A white-painted snake curves near the base of the fountain.

Label TextThis Athenian lekythos shows the Trojan princess Polyxena at a fountain, gently dipping her hand into the stream as she fills her water jug. Unbeknownst to her, Achilles hides behind a tree, shield ready, watching. Though nothing violent occurs, the scene is filled with tension. In myth, Polyxena is later sacrificed at Achilles’ tombPublished References

Brommer, F., Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, 2nd ed., 1960, p. 265, no. 29.

Washington, S. "Greek Vase Painting," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 5, no. 4, 1962, p. 91.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "Greek Vases," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 11, no. 2, 1968, p. 36.

Auktion 40, Kunstwerke der Antike, 13 December 1969, Müzen und Mediallen AG Basel, p. 46, lot no. 77.

Brommer, F., Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, 3rd ed., 1973, p. 359, no. 38.

Boulter, Cederick G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, U.S.A. fasc. 17, Toledo, 1976, p. 20-21, repr. pl. 28, 2-5.

Lexicon oconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC), Zürich, 1981, v. I, pt. 1, p. 76, no. 246, repr. v. I, pt. 2, p. 81. Bowe, Patrick, “The Origin and Development of the Ancient Greek Fountain,” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, vol. 32, 2012, notes 8 and 51.

Mangieri, Anthony F., Virgin Sacrifice in Classical Art: Women, Agency, and the Trojan War, New York, Routledge, 2017, pp. 83–84, fig. 4.13.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Berlin Painter and His World: Athenian Vase Painting in the Early Fifth Century BC, July 8-October 1, 2017.Comparative ReferencesSee also Auktion XXVI, Münzen und Medaillen AG Basel. Kunstwerke der Antike. 5 Oct. 1963, pp. 59-60, lot no. 115.