Collection record · Objects & craft
Red-Figure Squat Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Birth of Erichthonios
The collection record classifies this work as ceramic. It is dated c. 420–410 BCE. Recorded culture or place: Greek, Attic.
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Red-Figure Squat Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Birth of Erichthonios
- Date
- c. 420–410 BCE
- Culture / origin
- Greek, Attic
- Materials and technique
- ceramic, with gilding
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 18.6 cm (7 5/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); Overall: 30.3 cm (11 15/16 in.); Diameter of foot: 14.5 cm (5 11/16 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Meidias Painter (Greek, Attic, active c. 420–400 BCE)
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1982.142
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
The central group on this vase shows the seated earth goddess Ge (also known as Gaia) handing her baby, Erichthonios, to Athena. Conceived from the seed of Hephaistos, Erichthonios would go on to become a king of Athens, and the story of his birth became popular in Athenian art of the fifth century BC. Other representations include Hephaistos as well as Kekrops, the mythical first king of Athens, sometimes together with Zeus and other deities. But this one includes only female onlookers—likely the three daughters of Kekrops watching from above, with Aphrodite and several abstract personifications such as Peitho (Persuasion) and Eudaimonia (Happiness) standing and seated nearby.
FOLLOW THE SOURCE
Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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