One Broken Cup and Three Fanta Cans

This exhibition celebrates the reunification of six fragments of a sixth-century BCE Laconian black-figure kylix (drinking cup) on loan to the Michael C. Carlos Museum by the Italian Ministry of Culture,  the Museo Nazionale Archeologico della Sibaritide, and the Parchi Archeologici di Crotone e Sibari. Five of these fragments were donated to the Carlos Museum in 2006 by the curator and collector Dietrich von Bothmer (1918-2009, New York, NY). In 2022, controlled excavations led by the Danish Institute in Rome at the archaic sanctuary of Timpone della Motta, near Francavilla Marittima (Cosenza, Italy), uncovered another fragment that joined directly with those at the Carlos, indicating that the Bothmer fragments were likely the product of illegal excavation and antiquities trafficking. In 2024, the Carlos Museum transferred title of the five Bothmer fragments to the Republic of Italy, who have permitted them to remain on loan in Atlanta, together with the sixth excavated fragment. This exhibition explores what we now know about this cup and the context within which it was used and ultimately buried, highlighting the importance of provenance to our understanding of archaeological material, and the collaborations that have resulted in the reunification and return of these fragments to Italy.