A SICILIAN POLYCHROME PYXIS WITH LID

A SICILIAN POLYCHROME PYXIS WITH LID
centuripe, circa 275-225 b.c.
The front of the vessel painted in tempera with a nuptial scene on a red ground now faded to pink, the bride seated in the center, her head in three-quarter view to the right, clad in a white peplos with dark outlines, her left hand raised as she adjusts her yellow veil, with a small figure of Eros standing on either side, both leaning on her knees with their elbows, the Eros to the left with his fingers raised to his chin, his head in profile to the right, the Eros to the right with his head in three-quarter view to the right, the group flanked on either side by two standing woman, both clad in an elaborate peplos, both holding a phiale in the upraised left hand, and both with the head in three-quarter view to the right; the front of the conical lid originally painted and ornamented with a molded and gilt bead-and-reel pattern on the rim of the mouth and on the overhanging rim, a frieze of architectural inspiration below with a row of five molded and gilt lion heads above a painted band, a band of alternating molded and gilt bucrania and triglyphs on a dark ground, and a band of gilt bead-and-reel pattern, with molded outward curving acanthus leaves above the foot, the back of the vessel plain
19.11/16 in. (50 cm) high