Attic Red-Figure Lekythos (Side A, main view)

A young man holding a lyre made from a tortoise shell decorates this Athenian red‑figure lekythos. He stands resting one hand on a walking stick and wearing only a mantle wrapped over one shoulder. Aristocratic Greek youths were trained in a variety of skills. In addition to athletics, boys were taught the arts of music and poetry, which were considered essential for well‑bred youths to master. 

A lekythos was used to store and pour precious oil, and the narrow neck and bowl‑shaped mouth helped conserve the expensive commodity. Lekythoi and many other vessels produced in Athenian pottery workshop were exported to Italy, and an M ‑shaped graffito scratched under the foot of this lekythos was a trader's mark, used to identify goods in shipment.