Photo by Lee Rosenbaum
It’s down to the wire for the Metropolitan Museum’s (actually, now Italy’s) Euphronios krater. Sunday is the last day it will be on view in New York before it departs on its one-way flight to Italy.
But fear not, all you students assigned to fill out worksheets (above) on Greek objects. This just in from the Met:
The Ministero per I Beni Culturali e Ambientali of the Republic of Italy [Italian Culture Ministry to you] is lending the Metropolitan Museum three outstanding ancient Greek vases for a period of four years. Supplementing the Laconian drinking cup already on loan, the three additional pieces—a jug in the shape of a young woman’s head (6th-5th century B.C.); a cup signed by the potter Euxitheos and the painter Oltos, depicting the assembly of gods on Mount Olympus (515-510 B.C.); and a vase of the 4th century B.C. showing Oedipus solving the riddle of the sphinx—will go on view in the Greek and Roman Galleries on Wednesday, Jan. 16, enriching the museum’s strong collection of Greek art, particularly vases.
The Euxitheos/Oltos cup, a red-figured Attic kylix from Tarquinia’s National Archaeological Museum, is one of 12 objects “of equivalent beauty and artistic/historic significance” listed on the Feb. 21, 2006 agreement between the Met and Italy as a possible substitutes for the Euphronios krater. According to the agreement, rotating loans are to be made for four-year periods. The term of the overall agreement is 40 years, renewable.
This is truly the end of an era.