ATTRIBUTED TO THE BERLIN PAINTER, CIRCA 470 B.C.

Details

AN ATTIC RED-FIGURED NOLAN AMPHORA
ATTRIBUTED TO THE BERLIN PAINTER, CIRCA 470 B.C.
The obverse with Athena striding to the right, wearing a pendant necklace, a long chiton and a himation with swallowtail folds hanging behind, her aegis spread over her shoulders and fringed with spiraling snakes, her hair in a diadem, her long tresses bound, holding a spear in her lowered right hand and a high-crested Attic helmet out before her in her left, on a meander groundline; the reverse with a female running to the right but looking back, her arms spread wide, wearing a pendant necklace and a long chiton, her hair in a diadem, her long tresses bound, on a meander groundline
13 ¾ in. (34.9 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Collection, Switzerland.
with Münzen und Medaillen, Basel, 1975 (Kunstwerke der Antike, pl. 43.158).
Studer Collection, Lugano.
with H.A.C., Basel, 1998 (Kunst der Antike, pl. 18.45).
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 2008 (Art of the Ancient World, vol. XIX, no. 122).
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2008.

Literature

J.D. Beazley, Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, Oxford, 1963, no. 202.77.
N. Kunisch, "Zur helmhaltenden Athena," in Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung: 8, 1974, pls. 48.1-2 (A,B).
J. Boardman, Athenian Red Figure Vases, London, 1975, fig. 160a.
L. Burn and R. Glynn, Beazley Addenda, Oxford, 1982, p. 95.
T.H. Carpenter, et al., Beazley Addenda, 2nd Edition, Oxford, 1989, 192.
Beazley Archive Database no. 201885.

Brought to you by

G. Max Bernheimer

mbernheimer@christies.com +1 212 636 2247

Lot Essay

The Berlin Painter is considered one of the greatest pot painters of the early 5th century B.C. His long career began in the Pioneer School before 500 B.C. and continued until circa 460 B.C. According to J. Boardman (Athenian Red Figure Vases, p. 94), "his favorite scheme of decoration - single figures on either side of the vase, even where the action continues - with notable reduction of subsidiary ornament, is reflected by the shapes he favours." His best work is found on neck amphorae, especially smaller ones like the Nolans, as shown here. The subject of Athena on one side, a running female on the other, is seen on other Nolans, such as the example in St. Petersburg, pl. XLVIIIa & b in D.C. Kurtz, The Berlin Painter.

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