Wall fragment. Max. dim. 0.168. Prange, Niobidenmaler, p. 189, cat. no. N 42.

At the left, part of a stool (seat, cushion, one leg), then a woman (from the hips down) standing to left, holding a phorminx (one arm, nearly all of crosspiece missing). She wears a chiton and a himation. At the far right, part of the handle configuration (palmette). Below, stopped-maeander with checkerboard-squares. Preliminary sketch. Relief contour. Dilute glaze: decoration on cushion and leg of stool; sound box.

For the phorminx, see M. Wegner, Das Musikleben der Griechen, Münster 1949, pp. 30--32; more recently, D. Paquette, L'instrument de musique dans la céramique de la Grèce antique, Lyon 1984, pp. 131--141; M. Maas and J. Snyder, Stringed Instruments of Ancient Greece, New Haven/London 1989, pp. 139--145.

The Niobid Painter (ARV1 420, 25; ARV2 603, 32). Not from the same bell-krater as 553. The wall is thicker on 553, and the preliminary sketch is different.