Greek Vases in Innsbruck II

The aim of the proposed project is the scientific study of around 505 ancient Greek ceramic vessels and fragments held in public and private collections of Greek pottery in Innsbruck. The planned project represents the continuation and completion of the foregoing research project, titled "Greek Vases in Innsbruck" (P 16673-G02). In addition to the previously assembled material 53 hitherto unknown vases and vase-fragments, for the most part of Archaic Corinthian and South Italian Red-figure production, have to be included into the study. From the beginning of the 20th century onwards Greek vases have been collected by university professors for teaching purposes. The objective of compiling a teaching collection of "samples of style" in the case of the University collection is represented by the wide range of material, which consists of Mycenaean, Greek Geometric, Corinthian Black-Figure, Athenian Black- and Red-figure vases and South Italian fabrics. But only a small number of vases and fragments have been previously published or assigned to various painters, workshops or style. In some cases preparatory work of restoration, i.e. the disassembling of vases by removing previous adhesives as well as filling of losses and impainting of fills, is necessary. The scientific documentation of the vases and fragments will be carried out by following the guidelines of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum (CVA). The CVA publication series divided into fascicles by country and museum or collection holds more than 350 volumes from 26 countries worldwide. The material arranged by fabric has to be illustrated and examined according to criteria such as state of preservation, details of manufacture and traces of use, a description of ornamental and figural decoration, the examination and graphic documentation of preliminary sketches (a painter`s rough outline of the figure), graffitis and the calculation of the vessel`s capacity. The results of comparative studies and eventual attributions to a style, a "workshop" or a "painter" will be reported in the scientific comment on each record. A comprehensive photographic documentation of figural decoration and vase shapes is required, while the graphic illustrations, lists of painters and collections and indexes are part of the appendix. An innovative approach aimed at detecting vase fragments spread over various collections (disiecta membra) is set by the collaboration with a group of computer scientists in recognizing the fragments` fracture surfaces through pattern recognition methods. This will provide new data for joining disiecta membra spread over many vase collections. Up to now there are two collections known in which matching fragments from the Innsbruck University collection have been discovered and virtually affiliated, i. e. the Ella Riegel Memorial Museum in Pennsylvania and the Museo Civico in Milan. Furthermore, the application of a 3D scanner and the generation of roll-outs of figural friezes to overlaying graphics of the hand- made drawings facilitate the illustration of preliminary sketches. The outcome of this project will be the publication of the vases compiled in two fascicles of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum and fragments.

The aim of this study was the documentation and the scientific examination of 506 Greek vases or vase fragments from various public and private vase collections in Innsbruck. The vases, as well as their assignments to style, painters or workshops, were mostly unknown to the scientific community. From the beginning of the 20th century onwards Greek vases have been collected by university professors primarily for teaching purposes. The vases reflect the aim of compiling a teaching collection of samples of style. In 1903 e.g. professor Franz Winter purchased a mixed lot of 94 fragments of Attic Red and Black-figure vases from the Roman art market (Ludwig Pollak). Among these are numerous cup-fragments which are attributable to first-rate vase painters of the archaic and the classical period, e. g. Apollodoros, Berlin Painter, Onesimos, Douris, Makron, Brygos Painter, Painter of the Paris Gigantomachy, Eucharides Painter, Euaion Painter, Hermonax or Polygnotos. A group of about 100 vessels and sherds of Mycenaean and Geometric Greek manufacture was received as a gift from the Central Museum in Athens in 1906. Some of them apparently belong to the finds of Schliemann's excavations at Mycenae and Tiryns. In 1910 professor Franz Winter acquired a sherd lot of Mycenaen pottery in Tiryns during a journey to Greece. The study also includes 48 items from three private collections and 45 vases from the "Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum". The ultimate objective of the project was the publication of its results in two fascicles of the International series Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum (CVA), compiling the material according to various local Greek styles. The first volume will include Attic Geometric and Attic Black and Red-figure Vases, the second volume will cover all the non-Attic material of Mycenaean, Geometric, Etruscan, South Italian Greek and South Italian indigenous fabrics. The importance of this study is obvious, for it makes known and available unpublished pottery to scholars and the public. The objective is to enlarge the corpus of known vases and to contribute for the reconstruction of the oeuvres of individual vase painters and workshops. The recording and publication of the large number of high quality fragments of leading greek vase-painters also will facilitate future affiliations with joining fragments held in other vase collections. This provides an important contribution to the research field of Attic vase-painting. A meticulous graphical documentation of the painters preliminary sketches was done not only for complete vessels, but also for the small Red-figure fragments, mainly the sherds from the Pollak lot. This additional information could serve as supplementary indicator for researchers when looking for the particular handwriting of the individual artists in the case of further findings of counterparts (disiecta membra). In addition to two former known affilitations of vase fragments we could find new joining fragments: one fragment joins a sherd in the Bryn Mawr College and a recent probable affiliation succeeded with fragments in Leipzig and Naples, which belong to a fragmentary stamnos attributed to the vase painter Polygnotos.