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The pyxis (πυξίς,pl. pyxides) is usually a cylindrical box with a separate lid, probably used for storing trinkets, ointments or cosmetics. The type can be traced back to Geometric examples, which are often topped by horses, but the most common black-figure shape seems to have been borrowed from Corinth. In red-figure, pyxides are regularly decorated with scenes of female activity, and the shape is shown in feminine contexts.

Originally mostly used by women to hold cosmetics, trinkets or jewellery, surviving pyxides are mostly Greek pottery, but especially in later periods may be in wood, metal, ivory, or other materials. The name derived from Corinthian boxes made of wood from the tree puksos (boxwood), that also came with covers. The shape of the vessel can be traced in pottery back to the Protogeometric period in Athens, however the Athenian pyxis has various shapes itself. At first, the two varieties of pyxis included the pointed and the flat-bottomed. The pointed pyxis didn't last much longer than the ninth century BCE, while the flat-bottomed continued into the late Geometric. It also continued to grow larger and more squat in proportions. The cover often depicts elaborately sculpted handles and the walls tend to be somewhat convex. During the sixth century BCE, however, Athens began producing boxes with concave walls that enabled them to be grasped easily when ranged close together on a shelf. Compare the waisted shape of the medieval and Early Modern albarello. Images on the pyxis usually depict the marriage procession from a young girl's house to that of her new husband.

Pyx is a term for a specifically liturgical box, usually cylindrical, but of variable design, still used for holding and transporting consecrated hosts in the traditional Christian churches, a use to which the church began to put these boxes at a very early date.

Aryballos

A small flask with a narrow neck and a broad disc-shaped mouth with a narrow aperture.

An aryballos (Greek: ἀρύβαλλος; plural aryballoi) was a small spherical or globular flask with a narrow neck used in Ancient Greece. It was used to contain perfume or oil, and is often depicted in vase paintings being used by athletes during bathing. In these depictions, the vessel is at times attached by a strap to the athlete's wrist, or hung by a strap from a peg on the wall.

The shape of the aryballos originally came from the oinochoe of the Geometric period of the 9th century BCE, a globe-shaped wine jar. By the Proto-Corinthian period of the following century, it had attained its definitive shape, going from spherical to ovoid to conical, and finally back to spherical. This definitive form has a wide, flat mouth, and a single small handle. Some later variations have bell-shaped mouths, a second handle, and/or a flat base. Potters also created inventive shapes for aryballoi.

History: The earliest Protocorinthian round aryballos may be a descendent of the Mycenaean stirrup-vase. The Corinthian evolution of the aryballos can be followed clearly from the round through the ovoid to the pointed. By the end of the seventh century, the shape had been standardized and a new round form was the convention until the fifth century B.C.

The Corinthian version has a round body and generally one handle reaching from the shoulder to the edge of the flattened disc-shaped lip. This shape is rare in Athens, and a fine example of this spherical aryballos carries the signature of Nearchos. The Attic potters develop a different type of aryballos in the last quarter of the sixth century with a bell-shaped mouth, much like that of the later lekythos, and normally two handles reaching from the shoulder to the edge of the lip. In later examples there are no handles. Sometimes rather than having a spherical body, there is a flat bottom. This vessel is often shown in Attic vase painting as being suspended from the wrist of an athlete, or looped by a string and hung on the wall.

Aristoph. Kn. 1094: used to describe a vase from which Athena pours ambrosia on the head of Demos.

Antiphanes in Pollux 10.152: to describe a draw purse.

Lekythos

Like the aryballos, in that it has a narrow neck and a single handle, the lekythos (pl. lekythoi) is generally a taller vessel with a small, deep mouth. The Greek word lekythos was undoubtedly used for the various forms considered here, although it does appear that it was used for oil-vessels in general.

A lekythos is a type of Ancient Greek vessel used for storing oil (Greek λήκυθος), especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel, and is thus a narrow type of jug, with no pouring lip; the oinochoe is more like a modern jug. In the "shoulder" and "cylindrical" types which became the most common, especially the latter, the sides of the body are usually vertical by the shoulder, and there is then a sharp change of direction as the neck curves in; the base and lip are normally prominent and flared. However, there are a number of varieties, and the word seems to have been used even more widely in ancient times than by modern archeologists. They are normally in pottery, but there are also carved stone examples.

Lekythoi were especially associated with funerary rites, and with the white ground technique of vase painting, which was too fragile for most items in regular use. Because of their handle they were normally only decorated with one image, on the other side from the handle; they are often photographed with the handle hidden, to show the painted image.

The lekythos was used for anointing dead bodies of unmarried women and many lekythoi are found in tombs. The images on lekythoi were often depictions of daily activities or rituals. Because they are so often used in funerary situations, they may also depict funerary rites, a scene of loss, or a sense of departure as a form of funerary art. These drawings are usually outline drawings that are quite expressionless and somber in appearance. The decoration of these ceramic vessels consists of a dull red and black paint. These colors may have been derived from the Bronze Age, but were not used until 530 BC in Athens. Many artists of these vessels attempted to add more color to the figures, but later abandoned the idea, which provides more of a contrast. These vessels were very popular during the 5th century BC, however there are many that have been found dating all the way back to 700 BC.

They contained a perfumed oil which was offered either to the dead person or to the gods of the underworld. Some lekythoi were fitted with a small, inner chamber so that they might appear full, while in reality they contained only a small amount of the expensive oil. The Lekythos was used to smear perfumed oil on a woman's skin prior to getting married and were often placed in tombs of unmarried women to allow them to prepare for a wedding in the afterlife.

Lekythoi can be divided into 5 types:

the standard or cylindrical lekythos, which measures between 30 and 50 cm though there are much larger "huge lekythoi", up to 1 m, which may have been used to replace funerary stele,

the Deianeria lekythos which originates from Corinth, this form has an oval profile and a round shoulder and is generally of a small size (20 cm), it was produced from the beginning of the black figure period until the late 6th century,

the shoulder or secondary lekythos, a variation on the standard type produced from the mid 5th century on. These have a fuller, swelling body; most are decorated with the white ground technique and measure around 20 cm,

the squat lekythos, usually less than 20 cm in height with a rounded belly and a flat base,

the acorn lekythos, a rarer form, which has an oval profile and at the bottom of the body a raised cup with protrusions, like an the cup of an acorn.

There are also "plastic" lekythoi, with bodies formed in the shape of a head, animal, or other form.

Alabastron