The ancient Greek name of this vessel, pyxis, derives from the main material from which such objects were made, that is box-wood (Gr. pyxos), and meant originally wooden box or casket. Pyxides had a lid but no handles and were used for the safekeeping of cosmetics and jewellery for the female toilet and adornment. Red-figure or whiteground pyxides of later periods have been found as grave goods accompanying female burials and as votive offerings in sanctuaries of female deities. In the early 9th c. BC spherical and pointed pyxides with conical lids were predominant, while in the latter years of the 9th and the early 8th c. BC the flat pyxis replaced the spherical variant. The illustrated vase is a characteristic example of a luxurious variation of the flat pyxis decorated with one to four horses on the lid. Such pyxides seem to have been intended exclusively for male burials and are usually found in richly-furnished graves of the period. It is thus probable that the horses were symbols of the privileged class of Knights (Gr. Hippeis). From 750 BC, flat pyxides acquired almost monumental dimensions and became common, while their luxurious variations −crowned by a group of horses− were no long used only for male burials. This most impressive vase was produced in an important Attic workshop in the early years of the Late Geometric period.