Loutrophoros 400-375 BC

With Sotheby's, London, Lot 288, 10/11 December 1984.
LOUTROPHOROS
CARVING
MARBLE
Dimensions 670 x 370 mm
86.0097
A large, roughly oval fragment from the body of a marble funerary loutrophoros. At the top is a small segment of the neck of the vase. The body is decorated with a mourning scene, carved in relief. A bearded man, seated on a high-backed chair, shakes hands with a young man who stands before him. The handshake or 'dexiosis' is a gesture of farewell, commonly found in mourning scenes. A young child stands behind the young man and a mourning woman stands beside the seated man. The deceased in this family group is probably the young man since loutrophoroi, vases associated with marriage ritual, were often used to mark the graves of young, unmarried people. There is Greek inscription at the top left of the scene that reads: "Φανοδ[ή]μος | Παραμόνο[υ] | Αἰθαλίδοις". Translated this reads: "Phanodemos, son of Paramonos, of the Deme of Aithalidai". The Pentelic marble has weathered to a golden colour on the surface; it is white underneath as various scratches and chips reveal.
Purchased from Sotheby and Co. with funds from the University of Queensland Alumni Association from Mrs Betty Fletcher on the occasion of the University of Queensland's 75th Anniversary, 1986