Proto-Siceliote table amphora with red figures

Description:

Rather bulging amphora with high neck and dual rod handles. The A side is decorated with the scene of Herakles strangling the Nemean lion while a winged Nike is about to crown him.  The B side features a bathing scene with a semi-draped woman receiving gifts from a naked cupid. Between scenes, under the handles, there is a large palmette with 11 points facing the center among spirals and bell-shaped flowers. The neck features phytomorphic elements of vines both engraved and painted in white.

The fruit of fine workmanship, this vessel has made it possible to identify (Tullio) the personality of one of those proto-Siceliote ceramists who marked the transition between the Attic and Sicilian production. Originally covered with a thick limestone coating (see illustration panel) removed with a scalpel, below it featured a lively decoration and the original contour lines of the figures, as well as some fingerprints left by one of the artisans who made it.