Provenance Information

Christos G. Bastis Collection; Christie's New York 1999, lot 52; Safani Gallery Inc., 1999–2001; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.

Exhibition Information

Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 09/18/2007–01/13/2008

Publication Information

Christos G. Bastis Collection; Christie's New York 1999, lot 52; Safani Gallery Inc., 1999–2001; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.

Bibliography:
Christie’s New York, New York, The Christos G. Bastis Collection, sale cat. (December 9, 1999), 67, lot 52.

“Acquisitions 2001,” Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2002): 127, ill.

Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007), 202, pl. 187.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

On loan to the Brooklyn Museum of Art 1975-1999; Published in Bastis Exhibition catalogue, Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1987; auction Sotheby's New York 12/9/1999; with Safani Gallery 1999-2001; Acquired in 2001

Provenance Information

Ex Swiss private collection; Royal Athena Galleries, New York, acquired from the above; Harold A. Strickland, Jr., acquired from the above, January 1995; Yale University Art Gallery, acquired from the Estate of Harold A. Strickland, Jr., 1998.

Exhibition Information

"The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, 10/11/2003–01/18/2004; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 02/22/2004–05/16/2004;

Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 09/18/2007–01/13/2008"

Publication Information

"Acquisitions, 1998," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (1999): 197–98, ill; Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007), 204, pl. 190, ill; Darrell Arlynn Amyx, Corinthian Vase Painting of the Archaic Period (Berkeley Calif: University of California Press, 1988), 160–2.

Jack L. Benson, “Some Notes on Corinthian Vase Painters,” American Journal of Archaeology 60 (1956): 225–6.

N Icard-Gianolio, Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae VII, 7 (Zurich: Artemis, 1997), 147–151, pls. 112–113.

“Acquisitions, 1998,” Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (1999): 197–98, ill.

Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007), 204, pl. 190, ill.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

On loan and acquired in 1998

Provenance Information

Robin Symes, London; Thomas Solley, acquired from the above, 1977; Yale University Art Gallery, acquired from the above, 2002.

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

"Acquisitions 2002," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2003): 132.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

On Loan from 1995, Gift in 2002

Provenance Information

Collection of Mrs. John Hay Whitney (died 1998), New York, from Mathias Komor, 1961 [John Hay Whitney and Betsey Cushing Whitney Family Papers (MS1938), Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, ledger entry]; sold at Sotheby’s, New York, June 5, 1999, to an unnamed owner in the United States; sold at Sotheby’s, New York, December 9, 2003, to an unnamed owner in New Jersey; Rupert Wace Ancient Art, Ltd., London; purchased by the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, in 2016.

Exhibition Information

The European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre Maastricht, The Netherlands, March 11-20, 2016. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, October 10, 2016-present.

Publication Information

Sotheby’s New York, Antiquities, June 5, 1999, lot 107. Sotheby’s New York, Antiquities, December 9, 2003, lot 33.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The description and history of the object as documented in the The John Hay Whitney and Betsey Cushing Whitney Family Papers at Yale University Mrs. John Hay Whitney (“Whitney Family Papers”) supports provenance to 1961. A ledger entry in the Whitney Family Papers noted that Mrs. Whitney purchased a “small bronze statuette of a horse” from known antiquities dealer Mathias Komor, located in New York. Although no photograph accompanied the ledger entry, a more detailed description of a “Greek Geometric Bronze Horse,” which matches this object, was listed in an 1982 inventory of the Estate of John Hay Whitney, also in the Whitney Family Papers, and the statuette appeared in an undated photograph of the Whitney’s Beekman Place, New York, residence that was taken during Mrs. Whitney’s lifetime (reprinted in a Sotheby’s catalog from May 5, 2004). The object has been published twice, in 1999 and 2003, in catalogues from a major New York auction house and, in 2016, was featured at the European Fine Art Fair in the Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre. It is a major addition to the museum as an extremely fine example of early Greek art.

Provenance Information

Iris C. Love, New York, by 1980. Iris Love has been collecting antiquities, particularly Greek vases and fragments, for many decades. Certain fragments are marked with dates ranging from 1969 to 1980.

Exhibition Information

None.

Publication Information

None.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The 27 Greek vase fragments and groups of fragments acquired as a gift from Iris Love join or belong to the same vases as fragments acquired by the Metropolitan Museum through the large study collection donated by the late Dietrich von Bothmer (TR. 572.2011). The Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities of the Italian Republic consented to the Museum accepting the Bothmer gift as a resource for research, publication and display. A major consideration in the Museum’s acceptance of the Bothmer gift was to contribute to the reunification of pieces that belong together and had become dispersed. The gift from Iris Love is consistent with this purpose. As the material is accessioned, it will become available for study.

Provenance Information

Dietrich von Bothmer was a long-time curator and scholar of Greek & Roman Art at the Museum, from 1946 until his death in 2009. Throughout his career at the Museum, he acquired Attic vase fragments which came to form a study collection. For some of the fragments, the Museum knows the date and dealer for Dr. von Bothmer’s acquisition. For others, there is no acquisition information. The collection has not yet been catalogued, however the Museum is committed to cataloguing, photographing and publishing it electronically. Once the fragments are catalogued, any known provenance will be published on the Museum’s web site.

Exhibition Information

None.

Publication Information

Most of the pieces are unpublished. The exceptions appear in Sir John Beazley’s compendia of Attic vase-painting: Attic Black-figure Vase-painters (1956), Attic Red-figure Vase-painters (2nd edition, 1963), and Paralipomena (1971). Many of the fragments by Douris are included in Diana Buitron’s monograph on the painter (Mainz, 1995). Fragments by Makron are included in Norbert Kunisch’s monograph (Mainz, 1997). Isolated works are published elsewhere.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The study collection assembled by Dr. von Bothmer represents over fifty years of study and expertise, and it complements the Museum’s distinguished collection of prehistoric, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman pottery. Dr. von Bothmer identified and grouped the fragments according to well-defined art historical criteria – shape, date, painter, sometimes potter, subject matter. The degree of refinement in the classification is considerable.

Though the material consists primarily of small pieces, its artistic interest resides, to a considerable degree, in the artists who are represented, including Onesimos, Epiktetos, Douris, Makron, the Brygos Painter, the Berlin Painter, the Villa Giulia Painter, and other well-known names. Still other fragments are noteworthy for details of shape or execution.

The Bothmer Fragment Collection presents a very extensive and significant range of opportunities for study among scholars world-wide, notably those expert in Greek vase-painting. In addition, it makes possible joins with pieces in other museums, particularly those with holdings acquired during the nineteenth century from the Campana Collection.

In the spirit of cooperation between the Museum and Italy, the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities of the Italian Republic consented to the Museum accepting this bequest as a resource for research, publication, and display. In its agreement with the Ministry, the Museum agreed to strive to facilitate the recomposition of original objects by donating joining fragments in the Bothmer Fragment Collection to other institutions, or, where appropriate, requesting donations to the Museum, in order to augment fragments in the Bothmer collection.

Provenance Information

[Prior to 1990, reportedly with Heidi Vollmoeller, Galerie Heidi Vollmoeller, Zurich, Switzerland]; purchased by Athanasios Ghertsos, Greek Consul in Zurich, from Galerie Heidi Vollmoeller; ca. 1990, purchased by Frieda Tchacos Nussberger from Athanasios Ghertsos; [ca. 1990-1993, with Frieda Tchacos Nussberger, Gallerie Nefer, Zurich]; 1993, purchased by Thomas A. and Colette Spears from Frieda Tchacos Nussberger; 1993-2011, collection of Thomas A. and Colette Spears, New York; from 1999, on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; acquired in 2011, gift of the family of Thomas A. Spears.

Exhibition Information

The work has been on loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1999 and on display since 2000.

Publication Information

Hemingway, Seán A. and Dr. Joan R. Mertens. 2012. "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2010-2012." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 70(2): p. 10.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This mirror has provenance established to before 1990. It has been loan since 1999 and on display in the Greek galleries since 2000. Bronze caryatid mirrors occupy a special place in Greek art on a small scale because they are often very fine pieces of three-dimensional sculpture that can be related to monumental stone counterparts. The Spears example is a major addition to the Greek and Roman Department’s collection of Greek bronzes, and specifically of Archaic and Classical caryatid mirrors.

Provenance Information

French private collection (reputedly the Compte de Pourtales, 1863-1949); thence to Krimitsas Gallery, Paris; thence c. 1970s to private French collection (Michel Cohen); thence late 1970s to Galerie A La Reine Margot, Paris; thence September 2007 to Royal-Athena Galleries, New York City; thence to Dallas Museum of Art (accession date: December 29, 2011).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: As of February 4, 2008, this krater was not listed with the Art Loss Register.

Exhibition Information

DMA, December 2011 through the present.

Publication Information

N/A

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Although this work has provenance established to c. the 1970s and with good probability back to at least the 1940s, the DMA has been unable to substantiate details due to the death of several previous owners. The DMA does not have many red-figure vases, and only two others are Attic examples. This vase depicts a less-known episode in the early life of Helen (later Helen of Troy), which forms a very suitable inclusion among the prominence of female figures depicted in the DMA’s collection of ancient Mediterranean art.

Provenance Information

c. 1970s in the collection of Jerry L. Abramson, Dallas, Texas; lent to the Dallas Museum of Art since July 2005; given to DMA by Mr. Abramson's estate (accession date: January 30, 2009).

Exhibition Information

East Meets West, DMA, August 7 to November 27, 2005. DMA from July 2006 through the present.

Publication Information

N/A

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work was on long-term loan to the DMA beginning in July 2005, prior to its acquisition in 2009.The work has been publicly exhibited in 2005 and continuously since July 2006. Although the collector from whose estate the DMA acquired this work began collecting in the 1960s or '70s, the DMA has been unable to substantiate the precise date of acquisition because of the death of the former owner. The ancient Mediterranean engraved gemstones and intaglio rings, beads, amulets, and this coin, all given by this donor or his estate, complement the DMA's collection of ancient Etruscan, Greek, and Roman gold jewelry. This work is the only ancient Mediterranean coin in the DMA's collection.

Provenance Information

George Zakos of Basel, Switzerland since at least 1965 as reported by the owner of Ariadne Galleries to Mrs. Walter Alexander [email in curatorial file]; purchased by Ariadne Galleries of New York, New York in or around 1975; purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Alexander of Geneva, Illinois in 1985; donated to the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois in 2008.

Exhibition Information

2008.563-569, 2008.598-2008.600, 2008.608 and 2008.615, the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, October 3, 2008-November 30, 2010, November 11, 2012-present.

Publication Information

Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report 2008-2009 (posted on AIC web site), pp. 19-20.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This acquisition falls within two exceptions.

First, based on the results of provenance research, the Art Institute of Chicago can make an informed judgment that the object was outside its probable country of modern discovery before 1970. The collection of fifty-eight objects was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Alexander in 1985 from Ariadne Galleries of New York, New York. According to Mrs. Walter Alexander, the owner of Ariadne Galleries reported to her that he purchased the entire collection from George Zakos of Basel, Switzerland, around 1975, and that it was his understanding that Mr. Zakos had owned the objects for at least ten years. The Art Institute of Chicago has been unable to confirm this information with Mr. Zakos, as he is now deceased.

Second, the collection was promised to the Art Institute of Chicago prior to 2008. On at least two occasions prior to 2005, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander communicated their intention to gift the entire collection to the Art Institute of Chicago to Karen Manchester, Chair and McIlvaine Curator of Ancient and Byzantine Art. These communications are documented in the curatorial files of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The acquisition of these objects furthers the representation of the artistic achievements of all civilizations in art museums because they are fine examples of cast bronze offerings from the Geometric Period.