Hellenistic, Alexandria 2nd-1st cent. B.C. Dark brown clay, mould-made, black glaze. H. 4 1/16 in; 10.3 cm

Figural perfume vessel on a conical foot. Above a flower with lanceolate petals, a young, smiling woman with curly hair and snub nose rides belly down on a goose. She wraps her arms around the goose's neck and her left-hand rests on a bunch of grapes. The woman’s body is covered by a cloak with a fringed hem that is fastened at the chest by a round brooch. Together with the calyx, the cloak forms the back of the vessel. A strap handle runs from the woman’s back to her head, that is topped by a round spout. As the goose was sacred to Aphrodite, the lekythos may have been a love gift.
 

Lacuna at the mouth; handle, back and foot slightly worn.

Swiss priv. coll., Geneva, built up in the 1990s