Archaeological Illustration – Lekanis Lid Part 1

I recently decided that my portfolio needed an update of a few, new, historical illustrations. For the first of these pieces I have chosen to illustrate an ancient Greek lekanis lid.

Lekanides (plural) are Greek red and black ceramics commonly decorated with lively pictures of maidens and palm fronds.

The lekanis consists of two parts: a shallow lid with a large, flat knob which was often turned over and used as a plate, coupled with a small shallow bowl, two ribbon-like horizontal handles, a low footed base, and a rim with a ledge to receive the lid. A lidded lekanis was generally used as a cosmetic container or as a gift for brides, which was given by their fathers on their wedding day and filled with trinkets. (Reference - the Perseus Encyclopedia. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0004:entry=lekanis&highlight=)

My drawing will be colored pencil on Illustration board and approximately 9” x 9”. For a subject of this nature the drawing needs to be rendered as correctly and accurately as possible. I actually love this sort of illustration work. I find it both challenging and quite elegant to create.

This is the first stage - a detailed pencil drawing. Once this is corrected and checked I will begin adding color.

Lekanis Lid - pencil drawing.