The vase, complete but recomposed, is decorated in the so called black-figure technique; many details, partially erased, were in added purple or white paint (mostly the skin of the female figures). Summarily traced incisions indicate details of the anatomy and closing.
The lekythos is the archetypal funerary oil vase in Attic pottery: the variant, with a cylindrical and rather elongated body, a high disk foot, and an angular-outlined shoulder was introduced in the last decades of the 6th century before becoming, during the following century, the dominant shape.
The figural scene covers almost the entire body of the lekythos: the mythological episode represented here is well attested in contemporary Attic ceramics, since it is the fight between Apollo and his half-brother Heracles over the Tripod of Delphi or, so to speak, over the possession of the most important oracle in the classical Greek world. This scene appears on large vessels (mostly neck amphorae), but also on funerary lekythoi of the late Archaic period.
All four painted figures seem to move briskly toward the right: from the left one sees a) Artemis, wearing a long chiton and a cloak and holding a long spear in her right hand, while she raises her left arm as if trying to protect her brother; b) Apollo carries the Tripod in his right hand, while protecting his left side from Heracles club; his hair is short and he is dressed in a simple himation placed on the shoulder; c) Heracles wears the leonte and tries to run away with the Tripod he has just stolen; he turns to Apollo brandishing his club to hit him; d) Athena (helmet, spear, peplos and himation) is the counterpart of Artemis and protects Heracles.
This episode is inspired by the murder of Iphitos by Heracles, who then goes to Delphi to beg for help from the Pythia to be purified of his act: when the latter refused to answer him, the hero began to plunder the sanctuary, seizing the Tripod first to start an oracle of his own in another place. The fight began when Apollo opposed his brother's project and only the lightning of Zeus, their father, was able to resolve the situation: the seat of the oracle therefore remained at Delphi, but the Pythia had to indicate to the hero the road to his redemption.
The somewhat summary quality of this lekythos equals that of most of other contemporary funerary oil vessels: the success of lekythoi was such that potters and painters did not have any choice other than to implement high levels of standardization and lower precision to keep up with demand.

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