Wooden hexagonal pyxis decorated with repousse gold plates. Mycenae, Grave Circle A, Grave V, 16th cent BC.

The gold plates depict lions chasing a deer and an antelope among palm-trees, spirals and bovine heads. The latter, with their exaggerated eyes, dominate the composition. This pyxis is a unique find both because of the wood, which rarely survives from the Mycenaean period, but also because of the distinctive character of the scene depicted.