Neck Amphora by Exekias

It depicts Herakles' battle with the Nemean lion on one side and the sons of Theseus on the other (their earliest appearance in Athenian art).

The amphora could only be restored for the first time almost a hundred and fifty years after its original discovery due to negligence and political difficulties.

On one side the battle between Herakles and the Nemean lion is depicted – one of the twelve labours which the son of Zeus had to perform in the service of King Eurystheus.

Herakles strangles the lion, whose skin could not be wounded, while his brother Iolaos and the goddess Athena look on, serving to frame the scene.

Between the two horses, which are led to the right by their masters, is a vertical Kalos inscription, reading ΟΝΕΤΟΡΙΔΕΣ ΚΑΛΟΣ, "Onetorides is gorgeous".

The scenes can be understood as combining two Greek regions which frequently interacted with each other: Herakles is the hero of the Peloponnese, while Theseus' sons represent the Athenians' conception of themselves.

The participation of their heroes in the legendary Trojan War symbolically placed Athens on the same level as the traditionally important city-states of the Peloponnese, including the leading power of the time, Sparta.

As was common in the mid-nineteenth century, missing pieces were replaced and repainted to create the appearance of a complete work.

The sale of smaller archaeological discoveries was common at the time, particularly when no other, more expensive and higher valued artworks (statuary or precious metals) could be found.

According to Jakob Andreas Konrad Levezow's 1834 exhibition catalogue, the vase stood on one of the glass tables placed in a prominent position.

In the 1970s, the archaeologist Erika Kunze-Götte found a two-piece fragment during work on a volume of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum in Munich which she suggested belonged to the Exekias neck amphora.

Although this was quickly agreed on an academic level, it took a significant time to formalise the agreement, since the DDR officials delayed things for seven years.

For instance, during the process, Priska Schilling uncovered the letter "ο" in the caption reading (Ι)ΟΛΑΟΣ under a modern layer of paint.

It is suggested that this was a hoax by an earlier restorer, possibly Domenico Campanari in the first half of the nineteenth century.