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Mystery of Lost Chalice Solved (For Now)
By MANUELA HOELTERHOFF, Bloomberg
Even though it was dropped by a Swiss inspector a few years ago, a chalice by Euphronios remains one of the rarest treasures of ancient Greece. The artist probably painted it around 520 B.C.
You may remember his name from the immense Euphronios krater — also known as the “hot pot” — which the Metropolitan Museum of Art wearily returned to Italy last year.
According to the Italian police, the pot had been dug up in recent times by looters in Cerveteri, the main cemetery of the mysterious Etruscans who did a lively trade with Greece until they disappeared.
Curiously, the Euphronios chalice appeared on the art market the same time as the pot, both decorated with a very rare subject: the death at Troy of Sarpedon, son of Zeus.
The Met acquired the pot for $1 million in 1972. The chalice spent time in Texas with Bunker Hunt, the fabled collector of silver bullion, who sent the thing to Sotheby’s in 1990 when the market turned against him.
That’s when Vernon Silver starts “The Lost Chalice: The Epic Hunt for a Priceless Masterpiece.” Silver, who studied archaeology at Oxford and the American University in Cairo, is a senior writer for Bloomberg News in Rome.
We spoke on the telephone.
Old Vases
Hoelterhoff: How big is the chalice and who might have used it?
Silver: It’s a wide-rimmed wine cup, about the size of an LP record at the top, but shallow. Including the foot, it’s a bit more than four inches tall. Greeks and Etruscans would have used these at drinking parties.
Hoelterhoff: What do we know about Euphronios?
Silver: Vases of his time are some of the oldest known signed artworks, so we have his name, names of his competitors, the fact he lived and worked in Athens, and had jealous rivals.
Later in his career he probably went blind, losing his incredible gift for painting fine lines. The chalice is his earliest known work.
Hoelterhoff: Why was it buried?
Silver: The Etruscans modeled many of their tombs after homes, and at home they prized imported Greek vases.
Hoelterhoff: What happened to the chalice after it was sold at Sotheby’s for $742,500? It disappeared? Where is it now?
Silver: An anonymous European bought it. Without giving away too much, it turned up in the Geneva warehouse of Roman dealer Giacomo Medici. That’s where the Swiss cop dropped it, following a raid.
Hoelterhoff: The dealer Medici is appealing his smuggling conviction and is out on appeal. For leniency, he’s offering information to a third treasure, maybe another Euphronios. What do you think?
Object X
Silver: He calls it Object X, says it’s the equivalent of a Michelangelo of the ancient world, worth as much as the chalice’s bigger twin, the Euphronios krater that had been at the Met. It’s Greek, for sure. We might never see it if there’s no deal.
Hoelterhoff: Why are the Italians so focused on American collectors and museums? These drawn out trials and media events staged by a succession of cultural ministers looking for high office seem to play awfully well in the local press.
Silver: The Americans were the easiest targets, thanks to U.S. laws and an efficient American justice system that helped the Italians gather evidence and threaten lawsuits.
The legal systems of countries in Europe and Asia haven’t been as cooperative. American collections are also among the newest, so their antiquities, largely purchased in recent decades, have a greater chance of falling afoul of modern laws prohibiting tomb robbing and smuggling.
Hoelterhoff: Many in the art world are pretty appalled that (J. Paul Getty Museum) curator Marion True is still facing criminal charges after four years. The Getty has returned many objects. Why hasn’t the museum extracted her? Seems like a weird vendetta.
The Verdict
Silver: There are lots of interests at play. The Getty pays
her legal bills. At the same time, part of her defense is the
museum’s leadership was ultimately responsible for approving
purchases, and she just made recommendations. A plea bargain
might not make the museum look good. Holding out for a verdict
of innocent might be worth the wait.
Hoelterhoff: Italy has so much stuff above ground it can’t
take care of. Why spend all this money on fighting tomb raiders?
At least, they are unearthing pieces that would otherwise be
lost.
Silver: They’re looking to cut off market demand. The idea is that it’s better to leave the stuff in the ground until it can be properly excavated. “The Lost Chalice” shows for the first time what some of the material buried with these Euphronios pots was, and how the farmers who dug them up cast aside remains that may have told us who owned the pots and how they lived.
Hoelterhoff: When will the chalice be glued together and shown.
Silver: Don’t buy a ticket to Rome yet. The timetable depends on the Italian legal system. For now it’s in a cardboard box.
“The Lost Chalice: The Epic Hunt for a Priceless Masterpiece” is published by William Morrow (344 pages, $26.99).
Manuela Hoelterhoff is executive editor of Muse, Bloomberg’s leisure and arts section.
You may remember his name from the immense Euphronios krater — also known as the “hot pot” — which the Metropolitan Museum of Art wearily returned to Italy last year.
According to the Italian police, the pot had been dug up in recent times by looters in Cerveteri, the main cemetery of the mysterious Etruscans who did a lively trade with Greece until they disappeared.
Curiously, the Euphronios chalice appeared on the art market the same time as the pot, both decorated with a very rare subject: the death at Troy of Sarpedon, son of Zeus.
The Met acquired the pot for $1 million in 1972. The chalice spent time in Texas with Bunker Hunt, the fabled collector of silver bullion, who sent the thing to Sotheby’s in 1990 when the market turned against him.
That’s when Vernon Silver starts “The Lost Chalice: The Epic Hunt for a Priceless Masterpiece.” Silver, who studied archaeology at Oxford and the American University in Cairo, is a senior writer for Bloomberg News in Rome.
We spoke on the telephone.
Old Vases
Hoelterhoff: How big is the chalice and who might have used it?
Silver: It’s a wide-rimmed wine cup, about the size of an LP record at the top, but shallow. Including the foot, it’s a bit more than four inches tall. Greeks and Etruscans would have used these at drinking parties.
Hoelterhoff: What do we know about Euphronios?
Silver: Vases of his time are some of the oldest known signed artworks, so we have his name, names of his competitors, the fact he lived and worked in Athens, and had jealous rivals.
Later in his career he probably went blind, losing his incredible gift for painting fine lines. The chalice is his earliest known work.
Hoelterhoff: Why was it buried?
Silver: The Etruscans modeled many of their tombs after homes, and at home they prized imported Greek vases.
Hoelterhoff: What happened to the chalice after it was sold at Sotheby’s for $742,500? It disappeared? Where is it now?
Silver: An anonymous European bought it. Without giving away too much, it turned up in the Geneva warehouse of Roman dealer Giacomo Medici. That’s where the Swiss cop dropped it, following a raid.
Hoelterhoff: The dealer Medici is appealing his smuggling conviction and is out on appeal. For leniency, he’s offering information to a third treasure, maybe another Euphronios. What do you think?
Object X
Silver: He calls it Object X, says it’s the equivalent of a Michelangelo of the ancient world, worth as much as the chalice’s bigger twin, the Euphronios krater that had been at the Met. It’s Greek, for sure. We might never see it if there’s no deal.
Hoelterhoff: Why are the Italians so focused on American collectors and museums? These drawn out trials and media events staged by a succession of cultural ministers looking for high office seem to play awfully well in the local press.
Silver: The Americans were the easiest targets, thanks to U.S. laws and an efficient American justice system that helped the Italians gather evidence and threaten lawsuits.
The legal systems of countries in Europe and Asia haven’t been as cooperative. American collections are also among the newest, so their antiquities, largely purchased in recent decades, have a greater chance of falling afoul of modern laws prohibiting tomb robbing and smuggling.
Hoelterhoff: Many in the art world are pretty appalled that (J. Paul Getty Museum) curator Marion True is still facing criminal charges after four years. The Getty has returned many objects. Why hasn’t the museum extracted her? Seems like a weird vendetta.
The Verdict
Silver: There are lots of interests at play. The Getty pays
her legal bills. At the same time, part of her defense is the
museum’s leadership was ultimately responsible for approving
purchases, and she just made recommendations. A plea bargain
might not make the museum look good. Holding out for a verdict
of innocent might be worth the wait.
Hoelterhoff: Italy has so much stuff above ground it can’t
take care of. Why spend all this money on fighting tomb raiders?
At least, they are unearthing pieces that would otherwise be
lost.
Silver: They’re looking to cut off market demand. The idea is that it’s better to leave the stuff in the ground until it can be properly excavated. “The Lost Chalice” shows for the first time what some of the material buried with these Euphronios pots was, and how the farmers who dug them up cast aside remains that may have told us who owned the pots and how they lived.
Hoelterhoff: When will the chalice be glued together and shown.
Silver: Don’t buy a ticket to Rome yet. The timetable depends on the Italian legal system. For now it’s in a cardboard box.
“The Lost Chalice: The Epic Hunt for a Priceless Masterpiece” is published by William Morrow (344 pages, $26.99).
Manuela Hoelterhoff is executive editor of Muse, Bloomberg’s leisure and arts section.
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