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Lot Essay
Beazley's Three-Line Group consisted of "neck-amphorae of standard type, but small, and of good quality, especially considering the size. The patterns below the pictures are bordered by groups of three lines (but not all neck-amphorae with three-line borders belong to the Three-Line Group). The drawing sometimes recalls the Lysippides Painter." (see J.D. Beazley, Attic Black-figure Vase-painters, p. 320).
The scene on the obverse shows Achilles and Ajax playing a board game with Athena standing between them, her gaze turned towards Achilles. Both heroes are labeled by inscriptions. They lean forward, engrossed in their game, both holding two spears, with their helmets resting upon their shields behind them. The subject was a popular one with Athenian vase-painters, the finest surviving example being the amphora in the Vatican Museums by Exekias, who excluded the goddess from the scene. The reverse shows two warriors wheeling around in a quadriga.
The scene on the obverse shows Achilles and Ajax playing a board game with Athena standing between them, her gaze turned towards Achilles. Both heroes are labeled by inscriptions. They lean forward, engrossed in their game, both holding two spears, with their helmets resting upon their shields behind them. The subject was a popular one with Athenian vase-painters, the finest surviving example being the amphora in the Vatican Museums by Exekias, who excluded the goddess from the scene. The reverse shows two warriors wheeling around in a quadriga.