The Met Makes a Swap
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The Euphronios krater, an ancient Greek bowl that was the subject of a several-year dispute between Italy and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will be on view at the Met for the last time this Sunday, the museum announced yesterday. After that, it will return to Italy, per a 2006 agreement between the Met’s director, Philippe de Montebello, and Italian authorities.
The Met also announced that Italy is lending the museum three other ancient Greek vases for a period of four years. The three objects — a jug in the shape of a young woman’s head; a cup, signed by the potter Euxitheos and the painter Oltos, that depicts the assembly of gods on Mount Olympus, and a vase showing Oedipus solving the riddle of the sphinx — will go on view in the Met’s Greek and Roman galleries next Wednesday.
On the same day, the Euphronios krater will join an exhibition at the Quirinale, or presidential palace, in Rome, called “Nostoi: Recovered Masterpieces,” which consists primarily of objects reclaimed from American museums.
