Lekythos with Sphinx on a Pedestal

Emporion Painter (Greek, active ca. 500 BCE) (?) (Artist)

ca. 500 BCE (Archaic)

terracotta; black figure
(Ancient Greece )

The scene on this black-figure lekythos (a container for oil) depicts an assemblage of four Theban men before the sphinx, pondering her riddle. The Sphinx sits on a column, while two of the men facing her sit on folding stools and two stand upright.

Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.**

Joseph Brummer, New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1924, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Exhibitions

2009-2011

Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville; San Diego Museum Of Art, San Diego; Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA), New York.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
1/10/1948	Treatment	repaired
7/27/1987	Treatment	x-ray
6/9/2008	Treatment	technical analysis; stabilized; loss compensation

Share

Geographies

Greece, Attica (Place of Origin)

Measurements

H: 10 3/16 x Diam: 3 5/16 in. (25.8 x 8.4 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1924

Location in Museum

Not on view

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

48.238

Do you have additional information?

Notify the curator