This delicate small flask, of a type known as the lekythos, is a charming variation on the common sort of Greek vessel designed to hold olive oil. The light tan clay is left unpainted, with a single arched handle, a broad, flat lip originally designed for pouring, and no standing base. The ovoid body is shaped into the form of an almond, and the surface is meticulously punctured to imitate a nutshell.

Almond shaped vases were popular in fourth century B. C. Athens and the surrounding countryside, where the almond tree thrived in the hot, dry climate. Such was the ubiquity of the almond in Greece that among the Romans it was later known as the “Greek nut.” Vessels in other whimsical plastic shapes, such as mussel shells, lobster claws, crocodile or human heads, were widely produced art objects used as drinking cups (rhyta) or to decorate homes and delight individual patrons.

It is unlikely that our piece was ever used for actually carrying liquid: the lack of a standing base suggests that it would have been displayed resting, inverted, on its mouth. Probably made in Apulia, the region of Southern Italy colonized by early Greek settlers, this vase may have been produced at a local pottery or traded from Attica, where the style originated.

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