TEFAF New York 2025

Neck amphora decorated in black-figure with details in added red and white. Side A: a warrior in full armour is being greeted by a couple; a woman in a chiton to his left and a heavily draped bearded male to his right, perhaps his parents. Side B: a cloaked warrior who has drawn his sword and a woman with floor length dress, her himation pulled over her head and arms are conversing between two tall columns, atop of each is a cockerel. Above the foot is a band of rays, a thick solid band, and a band of linked lotus buds. Around the rim are double palmettes. Beneath the triple-reeded handles is an elegant motif of scrolling lotus buds and palmettes. Five short scored lines, and SV painted in red slip to the underside of the foot.
Intact, foot and handles and side B largely misfired, a few small scattered losses and chips from firing.

The figures on Side B are certainly Menelaus and Helen, reunited after the Trojan war. He has drawn his sword to strike the woman whose actions have led to ten years of war, and the loss of thousands of lives. She pulls her himation away to reveal her face and Menelaus, struck by her beauty, is unmanned and unable to deliver the fatal blow.