The name for this large vase means 'carrying to the bath.' Loutrophoroi were used to hold water for bridal bathing or for washing bodies before burial.
For her special day, a Greek woman would be washed and perfumed before putting on fine clothes and jewellery.
You can see the wedding couple illustrated on this miniature loutrophoros.
Before being placed in tombs, dead bodies were ceremonially washed and prepared by women. This water was sometimes stored in loutrophoroi, and explains why this example shows a body being laid out on a bier.