ATTRIBUTED TO THE NIKON PAINTER, CIRCA 460-450 B.C.

Details

AN ATTIC RED-FIGURED LEKYTHOS
ATTRIBUTED TO THE NIKON PAINTER, CIRCA 460-450 B.C.
With Eos pursuing either Kephalos or Tithonos, the winged goddess to the left wearing a diadem, heavily-pleated chiton and himation, grasping the male youth in her outstretched hands, the youth fleeing to the right but looking back, wearing a petasos, chlamys and sandals, two spears in his left hand, a band of meander above and below the scene, palmettes on the shoulder, a band of dotted ovolo above
10 3/8 in. (26.4 cm.) high

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Münzen und Medaillen AG, Basel, 14 November 1986, lot 213.
Formerly private collection, Japan, acquired privately in 1997.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Sale room notice

This Lot is Withdrawn.

Brought to you by

Georgiana Aitken

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Lot Essay

Eos, the goddess of the dawn, embarked on several ill-fated trysts with mortal men, including Tithonos and Kephalos. Deeply besotted with the former, a Trojan prince, Eos begged Zeus to grant him immortality so that they might never be parted; Zeus consented, but Eos had forgotten to ask for eternal youth, and so her young lover withered away into interminable old age. Kephalos, a handsome youth whom she kidnapped whilst he was hunting, was reluctant to become Eos' lover, and the rejected goddess was forced to return him to his wife Procris after he pined incessantly for her; it is likely that the latter is depicted here (cf. C. Weiss, 'Eos', Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, vol. III, 1984, Zurich and Munich, nos 47, 61, 76 and 80).

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