Attic White-Ground Lekythos (Front View, A)

The lekythos is decorated on its front with a scene of a man and a woman who stand facing one another. Between them, a shield lies on the ground, with traces of a helmet resting on top of it. The male figure, whose body is frontal, wears a garment that falls to the mid-thigh. It hangs from his left shoulder, like an exomis, or perhaps a chitoniskos that has only partially been donned, and a swag of drapery is looped over the flexed left arm to hang beside the thigh. The figure's left hand is raised, with the fingers articulated as if holding something between the thumb and second finger (perhaps a spear). He looks at the woman, and extends his right arm towards her. She responds by extending her right hand, but their fingers are yet to touch. The scene is related to that of the dexiosis, the handshake gesture that is typical in Classical Athenian funerary iconography. The female figure wears a chiton and her hair is tied up. She stands at ease, in profile to the right, with her left leg straight and the right foot drawn back behind her, as if she is in the process of stepping forward toward the male figure.

The scene is framed by a simple running meander pattern below and a band of 'ULFA' pattern above (groups of meanders facing alternately left and right, with saltire squares depending alternately from top and bottom). The shoulder is decorated with a palmette pattern, with a narrow band of tongues above. The neck, mouth, handle, lower part of the body and foot are black.