Classical antiquities coming and going

Art in America, March, 2008 by David Ebony

In an agreement with the Italian government, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in mid-January returned to Italy 21 antiquities whose provenance has been questioned in recent years. Most prominent among the works is the famous Euphronios krater (ca. 515 B.C.), a large red-figure vessel that was allegedly unearthed by tomb robbers in 1971. It was sold to the Met in 1972 for $1 million by the American dealer Robert Hecht, who is on trial in Rome for trafficking in stolen antiquities. The Euphronios krater is currently on view at Rome's Quirinale Palace [through Mar. 2], along with a number of other recently repatriated antiquities from the Getty, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and other institutions from around the globe.

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To acknowledge the Met's cooperation, the Italian government has loaned the museum four antiquities for a four-year period. Included is a vase in the shape of a woman's head (500-490 B.C.) by the potter Charinos, believed to be a member of Euphronios's workshop. Also part of the loan is a kylix (drinking cup), 515-510 B.C., signed by Euxitheos as potter and Oltos as painter, bearing an elaborate scene of the gods on Mount Olympus, as well as a kylix with images of a man, a sea creature and snakes, attributed to the Typhon Painter (560-500 B.C.), plus a krater by an anonymous hand, depicting Oedipus (4th century B.C.).

The works are now on view in the Met's recently refurbished Greek and Roman Galleries. The renovation was funded to a significant degree by philanthropists and museum trustees Shelby White and her late husband Leon Levy. White's important private collection of Classical antiquities has also been the focus of investigations by Italian authorities over the past 18 months. She has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but the provenances of some works in her possession have been called into question. In an unprecedented transaction between the Italian government and a private collector, White, on Jan. 16, handed over to the Italian consulate on Park Avenue nine pieces from her collection. Among them are a red-figure vase signed by Euphronios, another signed by Eucharides (both ca. 500 B.C.), and a Roman fresco fragment (50-30 B.C.) showing a detail of what appears to be an elaborate architectural folly. A tenth object, a 5th-century B.C. vase, will be returned to Italy in 2010.

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