Black-Figure Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Pan Presenting Hare to Woman

c. 330–320 BC

Black-Figure Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Pan Presenting Hare to Woman, c. 330–320 BC. Attributed to Asteas/Python Workshop (South Italian, Paestan, active c. 360–320 BC). Ceramic; diameter: 6.1 cm (2 3/8 in.); overall: 25.7 x 12.9 cm (10 1/8 x 5 1/16 in.); diameter of foot: 8.1 cm (3 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1985.1 This round-bodied oil vessel, produced in Paestum, belongs to a small group of vessels decorated with black figure in the second half of the fourth century BC, long after the technique had previously fallen out of fashion. Unlike most such vessels, which are smaller and feature just a single figure (often a woman or bird), this one shows a more complex and colorful scene. The goat-legged god Pan perches on a branched tree trunk, holding his syrinx (panpipe) and a hare. Facing him, her hands on the trunk, is a draped woman, perhaps a nymph or the moon goddess Selene. Although his name means “all” in Greek, Pan is primarily a god of shepherds.