Figure Lekythos rouge style attique, 19e siècle

ceramic,

Slender cylindrical shaped oil vessel on disc foot with funnel spout and loop handle. On the body is a nude draped youth running towards a satyr playing pan pipes.

Lekythes were used in many ways in antiquity, for example in the cosmetic field, as women's toilet vessels. Men used them more for sports. After physical exertion, they cleaned themselves with the oil they contained and a kind of spatula (strigilis). The vessels were also used in funerary rites for anointing or as grave goods (cf. white-ground lekythes).