An Apulian Red-figured Pelike, attributed to the Chamay Painter , circa 350-340 B.C.

decorated with a seated youth tuning his kithara next to a seated woman, a woman and nude youth holding aloft a wreath standing at left, two women standing at right, one with her mantle drawn over the head as a veil, an open box on the ground, a goddess in a chariot drawn by two erotes above, the reverse ornamented with a seated woman holding a phiale and flanked by a standing nude youth and a woman at a laver, the upper register with a seated erote and woman holding a mirror and cluster of grapes, six linked palmettes under the handles, an olive branch on each handle, a frieze of crossed volutes on each side of the neck with egg-and-dot above and below in front, and below in back; the details in added white.

Nicolas Koutoulakis, 1969
Jacques Chamay Collection, Geneva

"Art Antique. Collections privées de Suisse romande," Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva, 1975

José Dörig, Art Antique. Collections privées de Suisse romande, catalogue of the exhibition at the Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva, 1975, no. 278, illus.
A.D. Trendall and Alexander Cambitoglou, The Red-figured Vases of Apulia, vol. 1, Oxford, 1978, p. 426, no. 57, pl. 156,1-2
A.D. Trendall, "Some Interesting Red-figured Apulian Vases," Rivista di Archaeologia, vol. 5, 1981
Elfriede Brümmer, "Griechische Truhenbehälter," Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, vol. 100, 1985, p. 151
Martha Maas and Jane McIntosh Snyder, Stringed Instruments of Ancient Greece, New Haven, 1989, p. 177
Phoenix Ancient Art, The Painter's Eye: The Art of Greek Ceramics. Greek Vases from a Swiss Private Collection and Other European Collections, Geneva, [2007], pp. 98-101, no. 23, illus.

Very good, roughly 3 by 3 inch area overpainted to left and below feet of woman standing at far left in front, looking at this spot from inside it appears that two fragments were repaired there and a missing one (about 1 1/2 by 1 inch, below feet) was restored in plaster, losses to added white on chariot wheels, beam, and goddess' s reins, abrasions to glaze around edge of foot, minor chips and abrasions around edge of mouth area of misfiring around top left figure in back and below adjacent handle, minor nicks and scratches
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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This pelike is the name vase of the Chamay Painter.

Maas and Snyder write (op. cit., p. 177): "The player tunes his Italiote kithara on two vases, Apulian pelikes Naples 3224 and Geneva, Chamay Coll. In both of these he places his right hand over the crossbar, while his left hand, in playing position, tests the strings – the typical tuning technique already frequently observed in fifth-century examples. When playing, the performers, both women and men, are in most cases seated. None of them sings while playing (as far as can be discerned), nor does anyone else in the vicinity."