There were many different varieties of pyxis, popular in different times and places. The earliest were the
Protogeometric type of vessel which had a globular body, and the pointed-bottom pyxis from the
early Geometric period. The pointed pyxis did not last much longer than the ninth century BCE. During the
later Geometric period another style emerged with a flat, very broad base. Contemporary scholarship classifies pyxides as either: type A, type B, type C, type D, lekanis, Nikosthenic, or tripod.
Nikosthenic type This type was introduced by
Nikosthenes during the late sixth century BCE. It is characterised by a deep, calyx-shaped bowl with a flanged rim and a stemmed foot, and a domed lid. The decorations on pyxides found in an Etruscan context tend towards depictions of battles and athletic contests; for pyxides found in Greek and near eastern Mediterranean settings the depictions tend to be of marriage, childbirth, or religious processions. Evidence suggests that this was a popular type on the eastern Aegean island of
Samos and in Etruria between 560–500 BCE.
Proto-Geometric type Examples of pyxide from the Proto-Geometric style of Greek pottery normally between roughly 1050 and 900 BCE include the
globular pyxis, a type of pyxis characterized with a wide, circular body and a flared lip at the top of the vessel. Other forms of pyxide commonly from the early geometric period include the
pointed pyxis is a type of pyxis characterised with a wide tip that thins into a point at the bottom. dated around the 5th and 4th centuries BC and the
Type III: High Concave-sided pyxis dated ca. late 7th century BC == Gallery ==