Dallas, Almagià and the anonymous English collection

Apulian krater returned to Italy
Source: DMA

In January this year I noted that the Apulian krater attributed to the Underworld painter was linked to Edoardo Almagià. It was disclosed that the krater had first surfaced in 1989, and that it had formed part of an anonymous English collection.

The statement now issued by the Dallas Museum of Art confirms that the krater first surfaced in 1989 when it was published by K. von Schauenburg ('Herakles Bei Atlas', Archäologischer Anzeiger [1989], p. 24, figs. 1–2). Dallas also confirms that it had been in an English collection. Which one? Was it a private collection or a body of antiquities held by a dealer?

The return of further Apulian figure-decorated pots reminds us of the extensive damage sustained to the funerary record of southern Italy. It also vindicates the research of Ric Elia, whose careful and methodical research was attacked in a conveniently lost memorandum submitted by a senior British museum curator.