Red-shaped lekythos

The “Phiale Painter” took his name after a phiale in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The iconographic subject of the judgement of Paris appears in Attic black-figure vase-painting circa 575 BC. The subject concerns the contest between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite as to which goddess was the most beautiful, judged by Paris.

The award of the apple-prize to Aphrodite, who had offered him Helen (wife of the king of Sparta), would be one of the causes of the outbreak of the Trojan War. On this vase, the goddesses are omitted, yet Paris appears to be aware of the difficult task that Hermes has set him; he probably senses the disaster that will befall his house and his homeland.

Lekythoi were perfume vases but were not always filled to the top. Inside several of them was a small phial at the base of the neck. Thus, a smaller quantity of the expensive aromatic oil was needed in order to fill the vase. Lekythoi of this type were in fact called “economical lekythoi”.

This invention is first encountered in the larger black-figure lekythoi by the Beldam Painter (circa 475-450 BC).