Where in the World Are the Papademos Antiquities? A Search for the Stock of an Athenian Art Dealer of the Late Nineteenth/Early Twentieth Century

Preview this chapter:

Where in the World Are the Papademos Antiquities? A Search for the Stock of an Athenian Art Dealer of the Late Nineteenth/Early Twentieth Century, Page 1 of 1

< Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1484/M.ARC-EB.5.144099/M.ARC-EB.5.144483-1.gif

Between 1899 and 1902, a significant number of antiquities enriched the collections of the National Archaeological Museum, as a result of the new law 2646 of 24 July 1899 ‘On antiquities’. According to article 32 of this revolutionary law, all those possessing movable antiquities were obliged to declare them to the General Ephor of Antiquities within six months, while article 22 stated that in order for any antiquity found in Greek territory to be exported, it had to be first determined by the Archaeological Committee as ‘useless’ for the state museums. The law resulted in the official declaration of many important collections of artefacts belonging to art dealers, who were, moreover, very eager to have their objects divided into ‘useful’ and ‘useless’, so that they could continue their lucrative activities; the ‘useful’ ones ended up in the National Museum, while those that were ‘useless’ were dispersed around the world.

One of these dealers was Antonios Papademos, an unknown figure to us, were it not for his 103 ‘useful’ artefacts yielded to the Museum in 1900. Contrary to many other declarations during this period, the one compiled for the 727 Papademos antiquities is exemplary, and comes together with a package of archival information documenting, among other things, the whole procedure which led to the acquisition of his objects by the Museum and some of his subsequent export requests; it was thus particularly tempting for us to embark on a quest for the identification of his ‘useless’ objects, which have ended up in Europe, the United States, and even the Caribbean.