Excavating in a Museum: The Objects and their Afterlives

Smith Hall of Art Room A114
The Visiting Artists and Scholars Committee are excited to announce our final lecture of the semester, Excavating in a Museum: The Objects and their Afterlives with Dr. Maya Muratov, Associate Research Curator for Provenance in the Department of Greek and Roman Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art! Please join us for an engaging talk followed by a Q & A with the speaker.
Excavating in a Museum: The Objects and their Afterlives.
Objects in general, and ancient objects in particular, have what is often referred to as a “life” from the time they are created and used within a very particular time period and society. When an object leaves its original context – begins its “afterlife.” Along the way, in object’s “life” and “afterlife,” humans are always involved, and the relationships between people and objects can often be complicated. Personalities of the object’s owners add to its story – and consequently the stories of humans and things intertwine and enhance each other. Provenance is a story of objects and their owners, brought together.

In this talk we will piece together the provenance of two South Italian vases, starting with their respective discoveries in the 18th and 19th centuries, and will follow them throughout the world all the way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Host or Publisher Corcoran Art History Program