Attic Red-Figure Lekythos

A young man holding a lyre made from a tortoise shell decorates this Athenian red-figure lekythos. He stands resting one hand on a walking stick and wearing only a mantle wrapped over one shoulder. Aristocratic Greek youths were trained in a variety of skills. In addition to athletics, boys were taught the arts of music and poetry, which were considered essential for well-bred youths to master. 

A lekythos was used to store and pour precious oil, and the narrow neck and bowl-shaped mouth helped conserve the expensive commodity. Lekythoi and many other vessels produced in Athenian pottery workshop were exported to Italy, and an *M* -shaped graffito scratched under the foot of this lekythos was a trader's mark, used to identify goods in shipment.