Apulian Red-Figure Amphora

A: woman and youth at naiskos, within which stands a muscled cuirass with a looped fillet above it. Below the naiskos floor is a black panel with a white zigzag pattern; the plinth is decorated with a white scroll pattern between white bands. The woman wears a short-sleeved chiton with a piece of drapery across the front of her body. Her hair is caught up in a hair covering (kekryphalos); it emerges in a bunch on top. In her right hand she holds a wreath and in her left, a box (cista) and a hanging fillet. The youth bends forward over his right leg, the foot resting on a rock pile. There is a cloak over his left shoulder. In his upraised right hand he holds a patera, and in his left, a bunch of grapes. In the bottom left corner is a phiale mesomphalos; at top right, a window; and at bottom, a looped fillet.

B: two draped youths with sticks. Both wear himatia so draped as to leave the right shoulder and arm exposed. Above them is a diptych with stylus and to right, a window.

Reconstructed from fragments. The vase has a pierced foot. Wide mouth with flaring rim, narrow neck spreading out toward shoulder; thick strap handles narrowing at the top; ovoid body tapering downward to tall, reserved stem; ring foot, in black glaze, with raised upper edge, partly reserved on lower edge.

A and B, on side of mouth: white laurel wreath to left. Neck: black palmette-fan flanked by lotuses. Shoulder: black tongues separated by lines ending in a large black dot. Between handles: A, black band with reserved line below; B, black wave. Beneath pictures all around vase: meanders interspersed with dotted and quartered squares. Below handles: black strokes on reserved band around part of joins; tall single palmette with side-scrolls and fans.

The amphora has a hole in the base.

After Jentoft-Nilsen, M. R. and Trendall, A.D., CVA Malibu 3 (1990).