Terracotta lekythos (oil flask) ca. 460 B.C. Attributed to an artist near the Villa Giulia Painter Libation at warrior's departureFrom the end of the sixth century B.C., the lekythos served as a funerary vase to contain offerings of oil for the dead. During the second quarter of the fifth century, white-ground lekythoi, on which the decoration was painted over a white slip, became the typical funerary vase. While the subject here is the libation at the departure of a warrior, the shape suggests that the warrior did not return alive and that this vase was placed on his grave.. Terracotta lekythos (oil flask). Greek, Attic. ca. 460 B.C.. Terracotta; white-ground. Classical. Vases