A large Attic red-figure lekythos
Attributed to the Painter of the Yale Lekythos, circa 480-460 B.C.
Depicting two female attendants at a lit altar, one chiton-clad and wearing a diadem, holding two blazing torches aloft, the other to the right turning to look back at her companion, her hair dressed beneath a sakkos, wearing a himation draped over her long pleated chiton, holding a libation dish in her right hand, a staff in her left, a band of meander above and below, the shoulder with scrolling palmette and lotus decoration, a band of ovolo at the base of the neck, detail in added red, 29.6cm high注脚Provenance:
with Dr Christoph F. Leon, Basel in October 1998.

The Painter of the Yale Lekythos is known for depictions of women, typically in elegant yet static poses, as can be seen on the present lot. His style has been described as 'loose and sketchy', and he is commended for the 'contemplative tone of his forms' (C. Bruzelius in S.M. Burke and J.J. Pollit, Greek Vases at Yale, New Haven, 1975, p. 68).

For a similar Attic lekythos attributed to the Painter of the Yale Lekythos, see an example in the Ashmolean, Oxford, acc. no. 1935.342, and Beazley Archive vase no. 207697. His name vase is at the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, acc. no. 1913.146.