This is not the easiest vase to photograph or glimpse in nature (it is in the Hermitage’s permanent collection), but you might have been lucky enough to see it as I did in the glorious “Worshipping Women” exhibition some 15 years ago at the Onassis Cultural Center in midtown Manhattan. At 38 cm tall it’s a whopper of a white-ground lekythos and an early one (ca. 490 B.C.) – one of the “Pan Painter’s” best works. Artemis is front and center with an ornate phiale in one hand and gesturing to a curious swan with the other.
A riot of delicately applied dilute glaze and added white picks out the glorious details of her garments – the likes of that billowy, buttoned chiton sleeve is unmatched in my eyes. And the nebris tied at her neck is another sensation, dappled fur draped slack down her back and head lolling backward (unusual, beautiful, maybe quite sad).
The goddess is at her most serene here (docile, even), showing her mastery over the natural world even as she takes a pause from the hunt, fully in her role as patroness and protectress of maidens.
