New York to return further Bothmer cup fragments

Detail of cup attributed to the Euaion painter.
Centre of tondo in Villa Giulia; outer fragments from Bothmer collection.
Identification: Christos Tsirogiannis.

In March 2013 I noted that Christos Tsirogiannis had linked fragments of an Attic red-figured cup from the Bothmer collection to a tondo residing in the Villa Giulia in Rome. Earlier today it was announced that the Metropolitan Museum of Art would be returning the cup fragments to be reunited with the known tondo fragment attributed to the Euaion painter.

The images of the Bothmer fragments were removed from the MMA website in June. This created suspicion that an announcement was likely in the near future.

The announcement indicates that the cup can be linked to central Italy. Will the MMA disclose how Bothmer acquired the fragments? This is particularly important given the previous return of Bothmer fragments to Italy in early 2012. Are there other fragments that can be linked to objects that have been returned to Italy?

The return shows the value of the AAMD object register that made the identification possible. When will the MMA publish images of the rest of the Bothmer collection?

Apart from Christos Tsirogiannis, it is important to acknowledge the work by Daniella Rizzo and Maurizio Pellegrini who have been behind the return of so many key archaeological objects to Italy.