Additional collecting histories for an Attic krater

It appears that further information can be added to the Athenian black-figured column-krater due to be auctioned at Christie's on June 6, 2013 (lot 546). The catalogue entry tells us:

• Art Market, Freiburg, 1988. 
• with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1990 (One Thousand Years of Ancient Greek Vases from Greece, Etruria & Southern Italy, no. 35). 
• Patricia Kluge, Charlottesville, Virginia. 
• with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 2010 (One Thousand Years of Ancient Greek Vases II, from Greece, Etruria & Southern Italy, featuring the Patricia Kluge Collection, no. 50).

The present proprietor is stated as a Midwest Private Collector.

The Royal Athena Gallery informs us of a parallel collecting history:

• Ex German collection; Patricia Kluge collection, Charlottesville, Virginia, acquired from Royal-Athena in 1991.

The Beazley Archive (no. 44199) omits the "old German collection" as well as the anonymous Midwestern private collection.

The dealer in Freiburg is perhaps one noted elsewhere on LM but we cannot be sure.

But the main omission is that the krater also seems to appear in the photographic archive of Gianfranco Becchina.

Did Becchina supply material to the Freiburg market? If so, what other material from the Freiburg market can be traced to Becchina?

Kluge is also interesting as a collector.

But is this the only piece in the New York sale that can be identified from the photographic archives?

Can we presume that the head of Christie's antiquities department will be contacting the Italian authorities as soon as possible?

I am grateful to Cambridge researcher Christos Tsirogiannis who made the identification. 

Due diligence and collecting histories

Collecting histories are important. They indicate the routes through the antiquities market. And the collecting histories for objects that have been returned to Italy as a result of the Medici Conspiracy are fascinating. So if, say, a major auction house was asked to offer an object that shared the same collecting history (some continue to use the flawed term "provenance") as a returned object, I would presume that the staff of the antiquities department would conduct a rigorous due diligence process. Not only would they contact the Art Loss Register, but potential buyers would expect these purveyors of ancient art to contact (say) the Italian authorities to ensure that there is no overlap with the three major seized photographic archives. Can we be sure that such a rigorous process has taken place? What can buyers expect?

"Convincing provenance" and the London market

Readers of LM will know that I keep emphasising the need for properly documented "collecting histories". It now appears that Egyptian antiquities, with what were termed "convincing provenances", had to be withdrawn from a sale at Christie's (London) earlier this month (Georgina Adam, "Apples - only $41.6m a bowl", Financial Times May 10, 2013). It seems that the material had come from a recently looted tomb near Thebes ("they were believed to have been stolen from a recently discovered and excavated tomb in Thebes"). We perhaps should note the FT's careless use of the word "excavated". The reported collecting history was that the objects came from an uncle who had served in Egypt during the Second World War.

It is a good reminder that auction houses need to apply more rigorous processes during their research on lots.

The Wonderful World of Disney

This lecture will explore the background to the donation of the "Disney collection" to the University of Cambridge, and the establishment of the Disney chair of archaeology. It will place the benefaction of Thomas Brand Hollis to the Reverend John Disney in the context of religious dissent in the late eighteenth century. The bequest included sculptures collected on the Grand Tour by Brand Hollis and his friend Thomas Hollis (a benefactor of Harvard and supporter of republican values).

John Disney, the son of the Reverend John Disney, was president of the Chelmsford Philosophical Society that embraced archaeological investigations in Essex. Disney's collection included material discovered in the Roman cemeteries on the west side of the colonia at Colchester during the construction of the County Hospital. Disney was also instrumental in helping the establishment of the Essex Archaeological Society, along with the Reverend John H. Marsden, the first Disney professor of archaeology.

Disney was involved with political reform and stood as a candidate in three parliamentary elections. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and supported some of the first demonstrations of photography in Essex.

Cambodian statues to be returned from New York

Kneeling Attendant
Formerly New York MMA 1987.410 / 1992.390.1
www.metmuseum.org
© MMA

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has announced that it will be returning two statues to Cambodia ("Metropolitan Museum of Art to Return Two Khmer Sculptures to Cambodia", May 3, 2013, press release).

Tom Campbell, the Director, is quoted:

“The Museum is committed to applying rigorous provenance standards not only to new acquisitions, but to the study of works long in its collections in an ongoing effort to learn as much as possible about ownership history. This is a case in which additional information regarding the Kneeling Attendants has led the Museum to consider facts that were not known at the time of the acquisition and to take the action we are announcing today. In returning the statues, the Museum is acting to strengthen the good relationship it has long maintained with scholarly institutions and colleagues in Cambodia and to foster and celebrate continued cooperation and dialogue between us.”

The announcement sets a significant precedent for other museums that are presented with additional information about collecting histories.

What other museums have acquired material from the same donors or collectors? Will they, too, be reviewing their acquisitions?

The Met's "rigorous provenance standards" will also no doubt extend to the Bothmer bequest of pottery fragments. It has already been shown (from the few published images) that a connection has been made with a collection in Rome.

Nostell Priory and Context Matters

Later this week I will be exploring the collecting history of an Attic black-glossed bolsal that formed part of the Nostell Priory collection inYorkshire. It probably formed part of an early 19th century collection in Italy. A study of the piece, with a companion in the British Museum, has reminded me of the importance of archaeological context. Where the was bolsal found? What were the associated objects? I doubt we shall ever know. It is possible to say something about the piece thanks to excavated examples from Athens.

Lee Rizzuto and the Getty

Among the objects to be appearing in the forthcoming exhibition exploring ancient Sicily at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art is a terracotta given by Lee Rizzuto in 1979 (no. 119; inv. 79.AD.37).

In the same year Rizzuto gave a silver and gold bracelet that apparently came from Turkey (inv. 79.AM.36), a steatite goblet apparently from Turkey (inv. 79.AJ.51), an Anatolian pot with Geometric decoration (inv. 79.AJ.53), pots with Geometric decoration (inv. 79.AJ.49, 79.AJ.50), a silver beaker possibly from Iran (inv. 79.AJ.47), a Syro-hittite bronze statuette (inv. 79.AJ.44), a basalt half-figure (inv. 79.AJ.43), two steatite lamps apparently from Syria (inv. 79.AJ.45, 79.AJ.46), a bronze warrior possibly from Argos, Greece (inv. 79.AB.38), a Byzantine censer (inv. 79.AC.48),  and a series of Roman fresco fragments, some with a sphinx (inv. 79.AG.39, 79.AG.40, 79.AG.41.1, 79.AG.41.2, 79.AG.41.3, 79.AG.41.4, 79.AG.41.5, 79.AG.42).

What are the full collecting histories of these pieces? How were they acquired by Rizzuto?

Max Gerchik and Sicily

The image chosen to publicise the upcoming exhibition, "Sicily: Art and Invention Between Greece and Rome", at the Cleveland Museum of Art from September 2013 is a Sicilian terracotta head given to the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1976. The Getty has issued a checklist of the exhibits that includes items returned from North American collections to Italy.

We know that Dr Max Gerchik was the donor of at least one item that was returned to Italy. We also know that he was the donor of several inscribed lead plaques that were allegedly found at Selinus on Sicily.

Both the Cleveland Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum have had to return objects to Italy. Both museums will want to avoid any further controversial decisions.

So when did Gerchik acquire this "Head of a Goddess"? Did he acquire it on the Beverly Hills market? For how long did it reside in his collection? Was the head from an "old Swiss collection"? What is the full collecting history of this piece?

Disney and Collecting Histories

Readers of LM are very welcome to attend this lecture. I will be looking at the background to Dr John Disney and will explore how he became interested in archaeology. The lecture will develop my memoir on Disney for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

The ex-Steinhardt phiale from Sicily

Earlier this week I noted the forthcoming exhibition of antiquities from Sicily that will open at the J. Paul Getty Museum this summer. Part of the Morgantina silver hoard will be on display (after its return from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art). I am grateful to Fabio Isman for drawing my eye to another important piece in the exhibition: the gold phiale apparently found near Caltavuturo (no. 89).

The story of the phiale is well documented (and see images). It was seized from Michael Steinhardt and returned to Italy.