Nolan Amphora (storage jar): Seated Woman and Man with Staff; Draped Man with Staff

Artists

Description

This Nolan-type amphora is decorated with the simple composition and limited ornamentation characteristic of this vessel shape (1). On side A, a woman sits in a high backed chair holding a wreath in her arms. At her feet is a kalathos, or wool basket, holding unspun wool. Opposite the woman stands a bearded man in profile. He wears a himation and wreath and leans on his knotty walking staff. With his right arm toward the woman. Between the two figures are two inscription in added red, the second partially obscured by a minor abbrasion: KALE ("beautiful girl") and KA[LOS] ("beautiful boy"). On side B, a bearded man stands in profile to the left. He wears a himation and holds a walking stick. Decoration and ornament is limited. The figures on both sides stand on a continuous ground line of addorsed, slanted palmettes and a single palmette is located beneath each handle. 1. The Nolan type amphora was favored by the Providence Painter, see Beazley, Attice Red-Figure Vases, (2nd edition), 635-646, 1163.

Dimensions

31.8 x 17.9 cm (12 1/2 x 7 1/16 in.)

Provenance

Jacob Hirsch to Frederick M. Watkins, 1950; bequest to the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1972. A handwritten note in the 1973 catalogue written by David Mitten quotes a March 5, 1973 letter from Dietrich von Bothmer: "Sold in New York in April 1949, at the Coleman Galleries, at auction. Bought by Ephron (together with ABV 384.19, and a third one). Sold by Ephron to Kontsalakis who resold it the same day to Hirsch."