Funerary Lekythos with Departure Scene

During the late fifth and fourth centuries BC, elite Athenian graves were sometimes marked with marble monuments in the form of large vessels, replicating the bottle-shapes of lekythoi and loutrophoroi used in funerary ritual. This fragmentary relief comes from the shoulder and upper body of one such marble lekythos. A departing warrior stands at center wearing helmet, cuirass, tunic and chlamys. He faces left, clasping right hands with his father, who sits on a high-backed chair. His mother stands beyond, heavily draped and pulling one edge of her veil across her face. To the right, a slave carries the warrior's shield. An inscription above likely named the deceased.