ATTRIBUTED TO THE ETHIOP PAINTER, CIRCA 460 B.C.

On the obverse is a departure scene with an old bearded man and a youthful warrior. The man stands to the left in profile, wearing a himation that exposes his right shoulder. His right arm is bent acutely with his hand, palm down, resting on his shoulder. In his lowered left hand he holds a staff. The warrior stands to the right, depicted frontally but with his head turned over his right shoulder. He wears a short belted chiton, a chlamys, and a fillet in added red. He holds a large circular shield in his left hand and a spear in his right hand. An inscription between them reads [ ]KONI. On the reverse, a standing bearded man in a himation leans on a staff. On both sides, a band of stopt meander serves as the groundline.

The Ethiop Painter was named by J.D. Beazely after the Ethiopian man – a servant of the mythical king of Egypt, Busiris – who leads Herakles on a Nolan amphora in the Cabinet des Medailles, Paris (see Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, vol. I, p. 665, no. 1). He was primarily a painter of small vases, chiefly Nolan amphorae and pelikai.