Lekanis (Covered Dish)

Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

450-430 BCE

Greek; Athens

The shape of this lekanis—a low, lidded bowl resting on a broad foot with ribbon-like handles projecting from its sides—is typical, but its large size and lack of figural decoration are unusual. Frequently this type of vessel was decorated with marriage scenes, but this example is almost entirely covered with shiny black gloss, except for a horizontal band of vertical zigzags on the bowl and a band of rays at the base of the bowl and on the lid. Several thin, dark-red bands also encircle the vessel.

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

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Lekanis (Covered Dish)
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.: 450 BCE–430 BCE
Medium: terracotta, black-glaze
Dimensions: 22.2 × 48.3 × 36.8 cm (8 3/4 × 19 × 14 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Charles L. Hutchinson
Reference Number: 1889.99a-b
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W. Helbig, “Viaggio nell’Italia meridionale,” Bullettino dell’ Istituto di corrispondenza archeologica, 7 (July, 1881), p. 144.
Art Institute of Chicago, Preliminary Catalogue of Metal Work, Graeco-Italian Vases, and Antiquities, December 9, 1889 (Chicago: Early and Halla Printing Company 1889), p. 44 no. 349.
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.

Greek Vase Painting in Midwestern Collections, The Art Institute of Chicago, December 22, 1979-February 4, 1980, cat. no. 121.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 155, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, November 11, 2012 - present.

Said to be from Santa Maria di Capua, 1880 [Old Register at the Art Institute of Chicago]. Pio Marinangeli, Rome; sold to the Art Institute of Chciago, 1889; price reimbursed by Charles Hutchinson, 1889.

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