Pyxis (Container for Personal Objects)

Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

late 6th century BCE

Greek; Athens

There is a continuous frieze around the body of the vessel consisting of seated draped youths, standing draped females, naked youths with spears, runners and young riders. The draped male figures, seated and standing, all seem to be youths (they wear long chitons and himatia) and hold staffs. The standing women have lost their added white paint. A single naked boy is introduced in the frieze behind one of the women. There are mock inscriptions (dots) in the field.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Pyxis (Container for Personal Objects)
Place: Greece (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 550 BCE–500 BCE
Medium: terracotta, black-figure
Dimensions: 18 × 14.2 × 20 cm (7 1/8 × 7 5/8 × 7 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Philip D. Armour and Charles L. Hutchinson
Reference Number: 1889.13
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French, W.M.R. Notes [on a] journey to Europe with Mr. and Mrs. C.L. Hutchinson starting from New York Sat’y Mch. 9, 1889- , p. 25.
A.W. Johnston, Trademarks on Greek Vases (Liverpool: Aris and Phillips, Ltd., 1979), p. 121, 8D, 24.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 18.

Said to be found at Orvieto [Old Reigster at the Art Institute of Chicago]. Augusto Mele, Naples, Italy; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago through J.C. Fletcher as agent, 1889; price reimbursed by Charles Hutchinson and Philip D. Armour, 1889.

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