Greek Vases in New Contexts: Collecting and Trading of Greek Vases an Aspect of Modern Reception of Antiquity

ISBN-13: 9788772888866 / Angielski / Twarda / 2001 / 304 str.

Vinnie Norskov

Opis

Ever since 1764, when Johan Winckelmann compared the drawings on ancient Greek vases to the work of Renaissance masters, these vases have been among antiquity's most widely collected artefacts. But while recent scholarly interest in the nature of collecting has inspired several studies of individual 18th century vase collections, a broad survey of contemporary activity has been lacking. This volume examines the developments in Greek vase collecting and trading since World War II.

The author employs two approaches to her subject: case studies of eight major museum collections, and analysis of auction catalogues and dealer publications listing 18,000 Greek vases between 1954 and 1998. A detailed historical narrative, beginning with the early Renaissance, provides a helpful introduction to the field.

Several noteworthy trends emerge. When the collection of these vases began, right up until the postwar period, excavations -- and what they offered the market -- played a dominant role, but in the last 50 years, curators have -- with what they choose to purchase and display -- come to the forefront. A major scholarly shift in the 1960s broadened the gap between the collections held in museums, which adopted the new contextual approach, and the collections of private individuals who still favoured an aestetic approach. The growing curatorial emphasis on context also lent weight to emerging ethical concerns, as the relation between unprovenanced objects and the destruction of archaeological sites became an international issue.

Connoisseurs, curators and archaeologists will all find much intriguing material here, as will scholars in the fields of collecting and museum studies.