Two non-joining wall fragments. Max. dim. a) 0.055, b) 0.077. A. Ashmead, Hesperia 35, 1966, pl. 8.

Fragment a preserves most of the filleted head of an old man (Phoinix) to left, holding a spear or staff (shaft). In front of him, at the break:

retrograde. Fragment b preserves the right arm and shoulder of a male, probably a youth, standing to right, wearing a chiton under a chlamys fastened at the right shoulder. Preliminary sketch. Relief contour. Dilute glaze: folds of chiton; iris of Phoinix' eye. Red: fillet; inscription. White: hair, moustache, and beard of Phoinix.

The old man is probably Phoinix, as tentatively suggested by Ashmead (Hesperia 35, 1966, p. 24 and accepted by Beazley), and his image on Würzburg 508 comes immediately to mind (ARV2 182, 5; Paralip. 340, 5; Addenda 186). When the fragments are studied together and put on top of one another, it is clear that Phoinix should be seated. B. Döhle (Klio 49, 1967 [ pp. 63--143], p. 105) thinks that 254 may come from a representation of the Mission to Achilleus, based in part by the presence of Phoinix in the same scene by the Kleophrades Painter on his hydria in Munich, inv. 8770 (Paralip. 341, 73 bis; Addenda 189). In the Munich scene, however, he stands while Hermes and Achilleus sit, facing one another. Boardman (AK 19, 1976 [ pp. 3--23], p. 5) includes 254 in his list of Mission scenes but with a question mark and I am inclined to do the same. The figure on fragment b may be Hermes or a herald (Ashmead, Hesperia 35, 1966, p. 24) since he wears a chlamys, not a himation. He bears a particular resemblance to Hermes on the fragmentary vase in Chiusi (1847), once thought to be a stamnos (ARV2 188, 64; Addenda 188).

The Kleophrades Painter (ARV2 185, 38; Paralip. 340, 38).