Why Put an Oil Flask in a Grave? It Was Never Meant to Be Used
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A tall narrow flask made to hold scented oil became the standard Athenian offering to the dead, and the ones made for that purpose were painted in a technique used almost nowhere else.
What the vessel is
The shape is a tall cylinder on a foot with a narrow neck, a small mouth flaring into a shallow cup and a single vertical handle. Everything about it is designed to dispense a small quantity of a valuable liquid slowly, since the narrow neck restricts the flow and the cup-shaped mouth catches drips and lets the user pour a few drops onto a hand. The liquid was olive oil, frequently scented, used for washing, for anointing the body after exercise and for perfuming. Ordinary examples were domestic objects, made in quantity and used daily.
The funerary version
A distinct class was produced specifically for the dead:
- •Placed in the grave and set at the tomb as an offering
- •Shown in vase paintings being carried to tombs by mourners
- •Painted on a white clay slip rather than the usual red and black
- •Decorated in colours that would not survive washing or handling
- •Some built with a small inner cup, so they held far less than they appear to
- •Produced in Athens in quantity through the fifth century
Why the painting technique matters
The white ground technique gave painters a pale surface and a wider palette than the standard red and black system allowed, and the results are among the most delicate work surviving from the period. Figures were drawn in outline on the white slip and filled with washes of colour, including reds, yellows and purples, which permitted subtlety of expression that the silhouette technique could not. The colours are applied after firing in many cases and are therefore fragile, which is exactly why the technique was reserved for objects that would be placed in a grave and never handled again. The trade-off was accepted because permanence was not required.
The trick with the inner cup
A number of examples contain a deception that was discovered only when they were examined closely, and it says something uncomfortable about the trade. The vessel appears to be a full-sized flask, and inside it is a much smaller closed chamber leading down from the neck, so that the actual capacity is a fraction of what the exterior suggests. Filling one to the brim consumes a small amount of oil while presenting the appearance of a generous offering. Whether this was a fraud on purchasers or an accepted convention permitting an economical gift is argued about, and the fact that the construction is entirely invisible once the vessel is in place favours the first reading.
What the scenes show
The imagery is a major source for Greek attitudes to death and is unusually intimate. Common scenes show a visit to the tomb, with figures bringing ribbons, wreaths and further flasks to a grave marker, which depicts the object's own use. Others show the dead person seated, sometimes being led away by a winged figure of sleep or death, or arriving at the ferryman's boat. Domestic scenes of a woman with a servant appear frequently, which has been read as depicting the deceased in life. The scenes are quiet and undramatic almost without exception, showing mourning as an ordinary recurring duty rather than as a single event.
The takeaway
A narrow-necked flask designed to dispense costly scented oil a few drops at a time became the standard Athenian grave offering, and versions made for that purpose were painted on a white slip in fragile colours that no washing would have survived. Some carry a hidden inner cup and held far less than their size suggests. The scenes, mostly quiet visits to a tomb, depict the object's own use.