An Attic Red-Figured Nolan Amphora
Attributed to the Dwarf Painter, Circa 440-430 B.C.
Height 12 7/8 inches (32.7 cm).

Provenance:
Private Collection, France.
PIASA, Paris, Archeologie, 1-2 October 2003, Lot 89.
Royal Athena Galleries, New York, 2005 (Art of the Ancient World, Vol. XVI, no. 89).

On the obverse, a draped youth stands to the right with a mantle draped diagonally from one shoulder to leave the right arm exposed. He extends a hand slightly towards a somewhat hunched and draped mature man who advances from the left, with a bent staff in one hand and a lyre with a tortoiseshell soundbox proffered in the other. On the reverse, another draped youth with a knobby stick walks to the right, glancing over one shoulder.

In Classical Athens, the pedagogical relationship between adolescents and experienced adults was crucial and wide-ranging, with instruction in the gymnasium geared towards developing the well-rounded merits (athletic, moral, intellectual) understood to be central to the development of the city’s citizenry. It is this aspect of daily life that the obverse likely evokes.