Kylix with Woman and Music Lesson

This red-figure kylix depicts a woman standing to the left in the tondo. She extends her right hand in which she holds a length of a wool that comes out of a kalathos on the ground before her. Behind on the upper right hangs a mirror. She wears a chiton, mantle, and fillet.

On the front side are three youths in a music lesson. On the left, a youth sits to the right on a diphros holding a barbiton upright on his lap with his left hand and a plectron in the right which is attached to the instrument by a string. A bag hangs behind him. An older youth in the center sits frontally on a diphros, head to the left. In his outstretched right hand he has a staff, and in the left he holds a bag on his lap. Between them hangs a pair of sandals, one in profile, the other shown from the bottom. On the right another youth stands to the left, holding out a lyre in his right hand; a plectron hangs from a string attached to the lyre. All three wear a mantle and fillet.

On the back three youths are again depicted in a music lesson. On the left, a youth playing auloi sits on a diphros in profile to the right. A pair of sandals hangs behind him as on the front. In the center another youth stands in profile to the left. A flute case and a bag hang between them. On the right, a third youth stands to the left holding out a lyre in his right hand; a plectron hangs from a string attached to it. All three wear mantle and fillet.

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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.

Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [1897 cat. no. 241]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.