Greek Archaic Vase Painting
Tags: Greek
Euphronios (painter), Terracotta calyx-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water), ca. 515 B.C.
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News update:
For two and a half millenium this magnificent vase lay relatively undistrubed, however its recent history has been far from tranquil. Long disputed by the Italian authorities, the Metropolitan Museum of Art had claimed legal ownership based on the belief that the vase had been purchased from a reputible dealer prior to the enactment of a 1939 Italian antiquities law. Nevertheless, the Italian authorities have finally prevailed. They contend that the vase was unearthed by thieves who raided an ancient tomb at the necropolis at Cerveteri, north of Rome and that the Metropolitan acquired it from a dealer who’s story of its provinance has been directly contradicted by a confascated diary outlining the involvement of another dealer convicted of trafficking in looted antiquities. The upshot is that ownership of one of the single most important works of art in the Met’s collection has been transfered to Italy. For details please see the following:
Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia, World Heritage Site
Wikipedia entry on Cerveteri
2006 NY Times article
From PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
2005 LA Times article
