Greek Vases in New Contexts

Om bogen

Græske vaser er stadig nogle af de mest populære antikke samlerobjekter både for museer og for private samlere - og de handles ofte til skyhøje priser. Et af de mest ekstreme - og kendte - eksempler er den såkaldte "million dollar vase" af Euphronios, som The Metropolitan Museum of Art købte i 1972. Vasen kunne ikke umiddelbart spores til et fund eller en ældre samling, og luften svirrede af rygter om rovgravning i Italien eller sågar om forfalskning.

Mens der i de senere år er dukket afhandlinger op om de store 1700-tals vasesamlinger, så har man manglet en undersøgelse af de moderne samlere og handelen med vaser. Det råder Vinnie Nørskov nu bod på med case studies af otte større museumssamlinger og en analyse af auktionskataloger fra 1954 til 1998, der behandler 18.000 græske vaser udbudt til salg.

Bogen viser, at hvor markedet tidligere (indtil 2. Verdenskrig) mest var påvirket af, hvad der dukkede op i udgravninger, så er det nu i høj grad påvirket af museumsinspektører, der med deres specifikke udstillingsinteresser kan skabe "trends".

I 1960'erne begyndte museerne også at lægge mere vægt på sammenhæng, både samfundsmæssig- og fund-kontekst, og begyndte - i modsætning til private samlere - at forlade mere æstetiske principper.

Dermed er der også startet en etisk diskussion blandt yngre museumsfolk: Kan museer med god samvittighed købe genstande med ukendt "historie"?

I Appendix B (s. 353) er det samlede antal af hver vasetype forkert. Errata kan indhentes på Aarhus Universitetsforlag.

"In addition to her examination of eight specific collections and their development since World War II, Nørskov's book provides a useful survey of the history of collecting Greek vases from the Renaissance ... to the 18th century ... To back up her findings, Nørskov's attractively produced book has an extensive apparatus of color diagrams, charts, and three appendices, which record interviews with museum curators, annual listings of vases by type on the art market from 1954 to 1998 and the 172 most expensive vases sold at auction between 1969 and 2000."
Jenifer Neils i Art Bulletin

Indholdsfortegnelse

Chapter 1. Introduction:
The sources and the state of scholarship

Chapter 2. The History of Collecting Greek Vases:
The beginning of a tradition
Hetruscan vases
Winckelmann & Hamilton - a change in tradition
The idea and appearance of vase collections
Vulci and the golden age of collecting vases
The development of archaeology and its impact on vase collections
America appears on the vase-collecting scene
The century of attribution
Modern scholarship: tradition and changes

Chapter 3. Vases for Sale: Trade & Restrictions:
The rise of the market
The dispersion of the finds from Vulci
Rome: an Eldorado for antiquarians
The impact of connoisseurship
Greece and the eastern Mediterranean
Internationalisation, laws, and ethics

Chapter 4. Vases in Museums: Case Studies:
The range of collections
The British Museum in London: the first vase collection
The National Museum in Copenhagen: royal roots
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: America on line
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek: industrial princes
Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig: new museums
Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology: university collections
Antikensammlung Kiel: the German university collection
The Duke Classical Collection: new study collections
Some preliminary conclusions

Chapter 5. A Look at the Market: Availability or Choice:
The antiquities market in the post-war era
Vases for sale: a survey of the supply
Private collections for sale
Minerva's market: the 1990s from a dealer's point of view
Availability or choice

Chapter 6. Conclusions: The Individual Choice:
A living tradition
The curator's choice
The collector's choice: 'The most intriguing aspect ...'
Contextual archaeology, ethics, and the consequences of collecting
The exhibited vase
Approaching the 21st century

Appendixes:
Appendix A: Interviews with museum curators
Appendix B: Vases on the market
Appendix C: Table of 172 vases sold at auction

Bibliography:
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Auction and gallery catalogues

List of Illustrations

Indices
Index of names
Index of museums and collections
Index of galleries and auction houses
Index of laws and institutions
Index of vase painters and potters

Pressen skrev

Geralda Jurriaans Helle, Besprechungen, Nachleben und Wissenschaftgeschichte

"This book is a highly interesting study and should be read by anyone dealing with collecting Greek vases, private collectors and especially museum curators."

"For museum curators it is enlightening to compare the history of their own museum with the general tendencies described in this book."