Tuesday 27 September 2011

Antiquities in Houston

There are two antiquities in or, perhaps, that used to be in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) that have been of some interest to me. For some reason the museum has been a little reserved about supplying information about their collecting histories.

The first is a Minoan larnax, given by Shelby White. The MFAH Annual Report (2006-2007) no longer appears to be online. I requested information back in 2008.

The second is a Trebenishte style krater, on loan from Shelby White. I requested information on this krater back in early 2008. It is known that officials from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) have been trying to reclaim the Koreschnica krater (of Trebenishte type) from a North American private collection. (The Shelby White krater was due to be published in the series of essays, Collecting in Context, in honour of Leon Levy.)

Given that yet another object from the Shelby White collection has been returned to its country of origin (Turkey) this month, would it be sensible for the curatorial staff at MFAH to check their records?

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

David,

Who is the curator in charge at MFAH?

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