ABOVE: detail from the Euphronios krater, a 12-gallon greek pot depicting a scene from the Trojan War. Phillipe de Montebello is interviewed in this week’s New York Times Magazine about its imminent return to Italy.

In its almost-always-entertaining front-of-mag interview this week, the New York Times Magazine talks with Phillipe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, about the fact that the Met is soon to return the Euphronios Krater, a large terra cotta pot, to Italy because it was acquired under less than ethical circumstances. As the refreshingly candid de Montebello says, “the piece came to us in a completely improper way — through machinations, lies, clandestine night digging.”

But he doesn’t pull his punches when it comes to the Italians, either. While the Met has apparently accepted that Italy wants its pot back, de Montebello is fairly dismissive of the quivery nationalism driving that decision, chalking it up to a bias against the U.S., while Italian officials ignore similar shady transactions taking place just down the road in Europe and the Gulf states. And what, after all, is to stop Greece from claiming the Krater itself, since it was originally made there? De Montebello essentially questions the validity of patrimony laws, period. It’s a debate worth having.

LINK: New York Times Magazine > Stolen Art?