Thomas Hoving, the former Met director who brought us King Tut and the Euphronios krater, has died. He was 78. Hoving loved an adventure. And he made the mummies dance.
NYT: Hoving, Who Shook Up the Met, Dies at 78

While the Rome appeals court affirmed Giacomo Medici’s conviction for antiquities trafficking, it absolved him on charges of handling objects that ended up at the Met—on what appears to be a procedural technicality. Only the full, written sentence, expected within three months, will explain what this means for the Euphronios krater.
Bloomberg: Rome Court Upholds Medici Conviction

The New York Times’ Michael Kimmelman has published a terrific feature on “The Lost Chalice” and the road trip we took the other day to the overgrown Etruscan countryside. First we tromped around the long-sought site of the clandestine dig that four decades ago uncovered some of the world’s finest ancient art. Then I introduced him to a key character from “The Lost Chalice,” the last known surviving member of the tomb-robbing team that unearthed the haul. And on the way back into Rome we stopped to see the biggest prize from the illicit excavation—the Euphronios krater— itself in a new context at the Villa Giulia museum, far from its former home in New York’s Met.
Stolen Beauty: A Greek Urn’s Underworld

The Sarpedon krater by Euphronios went on display a few weeks ago at its new permanent (until further notice) home at Rome’s Villa Giulia museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art returned the krater to Italy in January 2008.

Behind the krater is the huge kylix potted by Euphronios and painted by Onesimos—the one the J. Paul Getty Museum surrendered to Italy in 1999, prompting Roman art dealer Giacomo Medici to hand over three fragments from the cup. The fragments, which haven’t been glued into the previously restored kylix, are also in the display case.

U.S. Customs says a krater got yanked from auction in New York, in part because of its possible link to a certain Roman art dealer:

“The investigation into the Corinthian column krater revealed it may have been illegally introduced into the art market by Giacomo Medici and a third party at Sotheby’s Auction house in 1985.”

ICE Press Release