MIDDLE CORINTHIAN, CIRCA 600-575 B.C.

The body of this spherical pyxis has a band of animals and monsters. One side is centered by a bearded siren with his head turned back, between a pair of stags. The other side is centered by a lion between a bull and a goat. There is a panther beneath each loop handle. For a discussion of the male siren in early Greek art, see J.M. Padgett, The Centaur’s Smile, pp. 287-290, while for the shape see H. Payne, Necrocorinthia: a study of Corinthian art in the Archaic period, Oxford, 1931, p. 307, fig. 142.