Θραύσμα χαρακτής στήλης

Abstract

The fragment from the lower part of an archaic gravestele with part of an incised figure of a standing man is an old acquisition of the National Museum. The pentelic marble gives evidence of its Attic provenience. Originally, an horizontal incised line separated the figure of the dead man from the lower part. Perhaps at this point there was a panel with some kind of decoration, though no trace of incision or colour has survived. Consideration of the evolution of the form of the feet from the beginning to the end of the sixth century, enables us to date the stele at the end of the archaic period. The feet are very similar in style to those of the statue of the Acropolis No 136 and of the figures on the Peithinos cup in Berlin, belonging to the same period. Thus the stele must be considered as one of the last Attic archaic gravestones. An incised figure has much to do with painting, since it consists of mere design incorporating colour for the background and inner details. And it is known that painting flourished at the end of the sixth century, a period which gave us excellent incised and painted gravestelai. Artists of incised works might have been sculptors, and it is equally probable that they were also painters.