An amphora attributed to the manner of the Princeton painter

Photo: Becchina Archive
Source: Christos Tsirogiannis

An Attic black-figured amphora attributed to the manner of the Princeton painter has been "passed" by the Artemis Gallery of of Louisville CO (June 10, 2021, lot 0029). (The scholar who made the attribution has not been indicated.) The piece shows, "Both sides present a nude youth riding a horse to the right followed by a bird in flight and set between two cloaked confronting figures." 

The history of the piece is presented as follows (although the sequence is not made clear):

East Coast, USA collection; ex-California, USA collection, acquired at Auktion 5, Jean-David Cahn, Basel, 5 September 2005, lot 36; ex-collection, Switzerland (Dr. Gregor Berger, CH-Jona SG, Collection of his father, the late Professor Dr. H.C. Mult Ernst Hern (1928-2006) - former Director of the Basel Museum

However, Christos Tsirogiannis has identified the amphora from the Becchina archive.  He suggested that Becchina sold the amphora at Christie's (Geneva) on May 5, 1979. If so, is this the unattributed amphora ('Horseman between onlookers, bird' on both sides) noted on the Beazley Archive (BAPD 2495)?

What is the sequence of this amphora? Could we suggest the following?

Becchina; sold in Geneva by Christie's (May 5, 1979); Professor Dr. H.C. Mult Ernst Hern (1928-2006), former Director of the Basel Museum; inherited by Dr. Gregor Berger; sold in Basel, Jean-David Cahn (September 5, 2005); California collection; East Coast collection.

When did this amphora leave the tomb (hence, 'intact and quite excellent') in which it was placed?

A Couchant Horned Goat from the Medici Dossier

A Couchant Horned Goat.
Photos: RAG and Medici Dossier.
Courtesy of Christos Tsirogiannis

Back in 2010 Christos Tsirogiannis identified a couchant horned goat that was on offer in the Royal Athena Galleries as the one that appeared in the Medici Dossier. The history of the piece was 'ex-American private collection, 1970s'.

The goat has surfaced (as was re-spotted by Tsirogiannis) as "Masterful Greek Hellenistic Ceramic Goat Vessel" in the Artemis Gallery in Louisville CO, as lot 0054. The history is given as "East Coast, USA collection; ex-Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, USA, acquired in the 2000s". The lot was "passed" on June 10, 2021. 

The Artemis catalogue does not mention any link with Italy, but the RAG catalogue of 2010 helpfully noted 'South Italy, 4th century BC'.  Will the Italian authorities be seeking its return?

This was one of 16 pieces identified on the New York market back in 2010, yet it has remained available for sale. 

The so-called Marcus Aurelius and the so-called Ryedale hoard

The bronze bust of a figure identified as the emperor Marcus Aurelius formed part of a 'hoard' discovered in a field in Ryedale, Yorkshire (Jonathan Chadwick, "Incredible Marcus Aurelius bust is among a treasure trove of 2,000-year-old Roman bronze artefacts dug up by metal detectorists in Yorkshire and tipped to sell for £100,000 at auction", Mail Online 21 April 2021). The find is described:

"The items were discovered last year by metal detectorists James Spark and Mark Didlick in a field in Ryedale, North Yorkshire."

In other words, during 2020, the pandemic year, these finds were made. Specifically the find was made in May 2020 (George Buksmann, "Incredible 'nationally important' Roman bronze artefacts discovered in Ryedale expected to sell for £90,000", Scarborough Evening News 29 April 2021). This has been identified as 24-25 May; the location was near Ampleforth [see here].

Url: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1013510 PAS record number: YORYM-870B0E
Object type: Assemblage
Broadperiod: Roman
County of discovery: North Yorkshire
Stable url: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1013510

Adam Staples from Hansons speculates:

"They were interred in the ground together so they should stay together. We think they were buried as a ritual deposit, as part of a Roman religious process and an offering to the gods."

Do we know that this 'hoard' was interred together? What is the archaeological context? What is the evidence that this was a 'ritual deposit'?

The hoard is due to be sold at auction by Hansons today.

| |

PAS Finds and Lincolnshire

© David Gill

I have been working through the RSA Heritage Index data and thought that it would be interesting to look at the reported archaeological finds for Lincolnshire (including the two unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire). These data are derived from PAS. Over 83,000 finds were recorded reflecting the high level of activity in the county.

| |

PAS and Finds in Eastern England

© David Gill, 2021

I have been doing some work on the results of the RSA Heritage Index (2020) with a focus, in part, on eastern England. The Index includes a section on 'reported archaeological finds' drawn from the PAS dataset. It becomes immediately obvious that considerably more finds are being reported for Norfolk and Suffolk than for the four other counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, and Hertfordshire. (Looking outside the region, West Sussex and East Sussex have a combined total of 27,000 finds; and the whole of Wales just over 63,000 finds.) 

What does this mean?

The recorders for Norfolk and Suffolk are to be praised for their recording of over 180,000 finds. The other four counties barely make 64,000 together. 

Does this mean that more finds are made and reported in Norfolk and Suffolk?

Does this mean that finds are under-reported (and therefore not recorded) in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire?

Is the implication that there is more activity in East Anglia than other parts of the region?

How does such information distort the way that these largely de-contextualised finds are used for research projects? 

A Fragmentary Athena Attributed to Myron

It has been reported that a fragmentary Roman limestone copy of a 5th century BCE sculpture of Athena attributed to Myron is now the subject of a civil forfeiture order (Christi Carras, "Kim Kardashian, statue smuggler? Government says Roman artwork entered U.S. illegally", LA Times 4 May 2021). 

The sculpture was part of a five ton consignment seized in 2016 at Los Angeles. In 2018 the Italian authorities claimed that it had left Italy without appropriate documentation. The consignment itself had reportedly come from Axel Vervoordt, though the company disputes that the sculpture was derived from Italy. 

A report in the Daily Telegraph (Nick Squires, "Authorities seek return of 'looted' sculpture from Kim Kardashian", 5 May 2021) suggests that the sculpture was purchased at the Maastricht Antiques Fair in 2011 (on that particular sale see here).

| |

P. Sapph. Obbink: A Publisher's Retraction

Brill has published a statement indicating a retraction on their published study of P. Sapph. Obbink [statement]. They cite Michael Sampson's work that has challenged the collecting history (the so-called 'provenance') of the papyrus. Have publishers realised, rather late in the day, that there are ethical and intellectual issues relating to the publication of material that has limited information about its origins?

Where does this leave the publication (by a major university press) of texts allegedly derived from "clandestine operations" at Selinous on Sicily? Incidentally, will the museum currently holding these texts be returning the rest of the dossier to Italy? (One text has already been returned.)