Agora Object: Agora XXX, no. 8
Chronology:   Ca. 440-430 B.C.
Deposit:   S 16:1
Published Number:   AV 30.8
References:   Object: P 27349
Lower half of body, all of torus foot, start of handle B/A. Strengthened with plaster. Thin reddish glaze on inside. Misfired reddish in places on outside. Pitted here and there. P.H. 0.035. R. R. Holloway, Archaeology 19, 1966, p. 113, figs. 1--3, p. 114, fig. 6; Beck, Album, pl. 44:237, 238; Goddess and Polis, fig. 38; Matheson, Polygnotos, p. 445, cat. no. PEM 14.

A, musical contest. At the left, Nike (drapery from the knees down, feet) flies to right toward a musician (lower part of chiton with a decorated robe over it, feet) who stands to right on a two-stepped platform playing the kithara (the ends of its sash hang down in front of him). He faces a man (head, shoulders missing) who sits on a klismos dressed in a himation and holds a staff. He is the judge, although originally the artist intended him to hold a lyre but changed his mind and turned the arm of the lyre into a staff. B, the like. At the left, Nike (lower part of himation and chiton, feet) flies to right toward a musician (head, shoulders missing) who plays the aulos (most of each pipe). He stands to right wearing a long decorated chiton and faces a man dressed in a himation who stands frontally holding a staff in his right hand. His head was probably turned to left. Below the figures on each side, maeander pattern with saltire-squares.

For a fuller kitharode scene than 8, see London, B.M. E 460, a calyx-krater in the manner of the Peleus Painter (ARV2 1041, 2; Addenda 319; Matheson, p. 442, cat. no. PEM 3). There, the moment shown is a slightly earlier one, for the musician mounts the bema. A standing Nike faces him, a small one flies in from the left, holding two stacked phialai in her left hand. On the right sits the judge, balanced on the left by a seated woman holding a spear. For the two scenes reflecting musical contests at the Greater Panathenaia, see R. R. Holloway, "Music at the Panathenaic Festival," Archaeology 19, 1966, pp. 112--119.

Manner of the Peleus Painter. Although said by Holloway to be by the Peleus Painter himself (Hesperia 35, 1966, p. 83; Archaeology 19, 1966, p. 115), 8 seems closer to his manner. The drawing is not as crisp and as sure as it is on vases by the Peleus Painter himself, and the drapery does not relate as well to the figures. Compare, e.g., Terpsichore on London, B.M. E 271 (ARV2 1039, 13; Paralip. 443, 13; Addenda 319; Matheson, p. 439, cat. no. PE 16, pl. 95) and Kalliope on Paris, Petit Palais 308 (ARV2 1040, 22; Addenda 319; Matheson, p. 441, cat. no. PE 26) with the seated judge on Side A: the manner in which the himation is pulled across the lower legs is, by comparison, rather mechanically rendered on 8. Also, the drawing of the ankle bone is more carefully articulated on vases by the painter: e.g., the namepiece, Ferrara 2893 = T.617 (ARV2 1038, 1; Paralip. 443, 1; Addenda 319; Reeder, Pandora, pp. 349--351, cat. no. 110; Matheson, p. 436, cat. no. PE 1, pl. 91). Compare also the man announcing the victories in a contest for boy athletes on Taranto 52368 (ARV2 1040, 15; Addenda 319; Matheson, p. 439, cat. no. PE 19) with the judge on Side B of 8. The drawing of the Agora figure is much sketchier by comparison. Finally, the ornament below the figures: the Peleus Painter and for the most part those decorating vases in his manner prefer the stopped-maeander pattern with saltire-squares. For two or three continuous units with saltire-squares, see Syracuse 44291, a bell-krater in his manner (ARV2 1041, 9; Addenda 319; Matheson, p. 444, cat. no. PEM 10, pl. 155).