ATTRIBUTED TO THE NAPLES PAINTER, CIRCA 440-420 B.C.

On the obverse, a charioteer, wearing a long pleated chiton cinched at his waist, drives a quadriga to the right. He leans forward, grasping the reins with both hands and holding a goad (kentron) in his right. Before him is the goddess Nike, with upraised wings, wearing a chiton and proffering a wool ribbon (taenia) to the charioteer. According to Steinhart (op. cit.) the taenia was, like the goddess, a symbol of victory; one may therefore read this scene as the crowning of the victor of a chariot race. Variations of the scene were popular with the Naples Painter and associated artists. For a nearly identical example formerly in the Ophiuchus Collection, for which J.D. Beazley wavered between its attribution to the Naples Painter and the Ariana Painter, see p. 1101, no. 2 in Attic Red-Figured Vase-Painters, second edition.