RF Lekythos – Eros with Victor's Ribbon, after MFA Boston

Red-figure lekythos with Eros carrying a victor's ribbon, Late Archaic Period, ca. 490–480 BCE. After an original in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Slender and self-possessed, this lekythos carries one of antiquity's most beloved figures: a winged Eros, standing frontally and bearing a victor's ribbon, the tainia awarded to athletes and heroes in moments of triumph. The choice of subject is characteristic of the Late Archaic moment, when red-figure painters were mastering the challenge of the frontal figure, rendering wings, anatomy, and drapery with a new and confident naturalism.

Originally held in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the source lekythos is a touchstone of Late Archaic Attic craftsmanship. This faithful ATTIC BLACK reproduction is handmade in Athens.