Mazur: Italy's List Of Ancient Treasures At Clevel

Sunday, 22 April 2007, 8:37 pm
Article: Suzan Mazur

It's Official! -- Italy's List Of Ancient Treasures At Cleveland

Medea in flight with her crested serpents

Cleveland Museum representatives met in Rome on Friday with Italy’s ministry of culture to discuss a list of dozens -- yes dozens -- of pieces of Italy’s cultural patrimony now part of the museum’s hoard.

Topping the list is the fabulous ex-Hunt collection Medea calyx krater, 400 bc, first identified on these pages as looted Italian art [see.. Scoop: Cleveland's Got Prized South Italian Medea Vase & Scoop: Italy Will Contest Medea Vase At Cleveland Museum] – the vase former Boston Museum of Fine Arts curator Cornelius Vermeule told me he’d “kill for” around the time of the 1990 Hunt-Sotheby’s auction. [see… Scoop: Sotheby's Pre-Auction Euphronios Transcript]

Also on the list and previously cited here is the bronze statue of Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard Slayer) attributed to Praxiteles and sold to Cleveland by Phoenix Ancient Art’s Aboutaam brothers.

Other highly important pieces are a black-figure oil flask from Campania, 330-300 bc, originally listed in Bob Hecht’s trial documents as one of the 94 pieces he trafficked, and a Campanian red-figure oil flask, 350-320 bc, donated by ex-Hecht Atlantis Antiquities financier Jonathan Rosen.

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And there’s the 6th century bc silver Etruscan bracelet, a gift from “trafficante” Edoardo Almagia to Cleveland Museum in honor of Arielle P. Kozloff, the museum's former curator of Greek and Roman art, who left her post a few years ago to work for New York dealer Ed Merrin. [see… Scoop: Merrin Gallery In Italy's Antiquities Dragnet?] Kozloff is now an "independent scholar".

The list of loot follows:

1. Medea Calyx Krater, ex-Hunt Collection, Lucania, South Italy, 400 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8549

2. Paestan Black-Figure Lekythos (oil flask), Campania, South Italy, 330-300 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8643

3. Campanian Red-Figure Acorn Lekythos, 350-320 BC, gift of Jonathan P. Rosen, Bob Hecht's financier of Atlantis Antiquities
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8649

4. Bronze Statue, Apollo Sauroktopos (Lizard Slayer), 350 - 275 BC, attributed to Praxiteles. Sold to museum by the Aboutaam brothers at Phoenix Ancient Art.
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=58577

5. Roman Bronze Dancing Bear Oil Ampula, 3rd C AD
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8689

6. Heron Aryballos, Terracotta -- 580 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8560

7. Bronze Rider -- 400-375 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8698

8. Marble Aphrodite Torso -- Taranto, Italy 2nd-1st C BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8544

9. Apulian Bell-Krater, South Italy 390-380 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8547

10.. Silver Etruscan Bracelet 6th C BC -- Gift of Edoardo Almagia in honor of Arielle P. Kozloff
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=6863

11. Amber Sphinx, South Italy 500 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8704

12. Amber Head of a Woman, Etruscan 7th C BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=9033

13. "Pontic" Oinochoe, Black Figure Terracotta, Etruscan 520 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8641

14. Bronze Statuette of Hercules with silver & copper inlays, Rome 30-20 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8590

15. Bronze Statuette of Lar with copper inlays, Rome 1-25 AD
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8592

16. Bronze Statuette of a Barbarian, Rome 1-100 AD
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8591

>>NO IMAGE AVAILABLE<<

17. Column Krater, Terracotta, 600-590 BC
LINK

18. Inscribed Processional Cross, blue & red enamel w/ gilded copper, Siena, Tuscany 1350 AD
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8234

>>NO IMAGE AVAILABLE<<

19. Bronze Statuette of a Warrior, Sardinia 900-700 BC
LINK

20. Bronze Statuette of a Warrior, Etruscan, 500 BC, Rimini, Italy
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8683

21. Bronze attachment -- Victory with Cornucopia -- from Roman chariot, 40-68 AD
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8538

22. Marble head of Emperor Balbinus, 3rd C AD, once attached to a Roman sarcophagus
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8527

23. Woman at Banquet, Bronze Etruscan vessel ornament, 400-375 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8634

24. Reclining Flutist, Bronze Etruscan vessel ornament, 400-375 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8629

25. Bronze Lyre-Player & Figure with Ompholos, Etruscan, 400-375 BC
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8631

26. Silver Goblet, Vicarello, Italy, 1st C BC - 1st C AD
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=9022

27. Bird Askos, Terracotta vessel for scented oil, Vulci, Italy, 8th C BC. Says Cleveland: "The museum's Bird Askos, probably made near the ancient Etruscan city of Vulci in Italy, presumably owes its excellent state of preservation to being deposited in a sealed tomb."
http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/magnify.asp?woID=8710

*************

Suzan Mazur's stories on art and antiquities have been published in The Economist, Financial Times, Connoisseur, Archaeology (cover) and Newsday. Some of her other reports have appeared on PBS, CBC and MBC. She has been a guest on McLaughlin, Charlie Rose and various Fox Television News programs. Email: sznmzr @ aol.com

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