WORKSHOP OF THE JENA PAINTER, CIRCA EARLY 4TH CENTURY B.C.

The Jena Painter was among the last generation of Attic vase-painters working in the red-figure style. As J. Boardman informs (pp. 169-170 in Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Classical Period), he was the dominant painter of cups working in the early 4th century B.C. and was an accomplished draughtsman, offering “interesting subjects and figures to offset the dreary hordes of youths, women, satyrs and maenads that people most of his cups.” The tondo of the present kylix depicts Eros riding a dolphin and holding a scrolling tendril. Each side of the exterior is decorated with a draped youth flanked by two nude athletes, three holding strigils and one a discus.