Exhibit gives Greek art a fair shake

Nanjing Museum highlights power of Athenian art, Zhao Xu reports.

A man, probably in his early 20s, with short curly hair and a mantle draped over his left shoulder is accompanied by a dog. He is facing a bearded, much more mature-looking man donning a longer mantle baring his chest.

Shown in profile on a marble stele dating to around 400 BC, the two are in the middle of a handshake, with both holding out their right hands.

"This was no handshake in the common sense of the word, but one that allowed a father to say a proper goodbye to his beloved son, who passed at his prime," says Guan Lin, curator of an ongoing exhibition, The Glory of the Aegean Sea, dedicated to ancient Greek civilization at the Nanjing Museum.

"In ancient Greek funerary art, the handshake is a gesture of final farewell, with the departed extending his or her right hand," she says.

"This marble relief is a grave stele found in Athens near a seaside church."

A viewer, who looks closely enough, will find a small box dangling from the father's wrist.