Even scholars sometimes succumb to sentimentality. That's one
of the things Ellen Reeder learned while criss-crossing Europe,
coaxing museum directors into lending priceless pieces to
"Pandora's Box," the Walters Art Gallery's exhibit on the lives
and roles of women in classical Greece.
During a visit to The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, Reeder
won an especially valuable loan--one of a unique pair of head
vases crafted in the 5th Century B.C. by the artist Charinos.
Reeder then jetted off to Berlin for a stop at The State Museum,
which, coincidentally, owns the second of the bronze-hued,
bright-eyed vases. The pair had been unearthed together in a
grave in southern Italy, then quickly shipped off to separate
homes.
"The first thing the director there says to me is, 'What are the
Russians lending you?'," Reeder recalls. "I tell him about the
objects, and when we get to the head vase, he says, 'They're not
lending you that'!"
Actually, Reeder didn't intend to even ask about the Berlin vase.
"I thought they'd never lend it," she confesses. But the German
director was entranced by the prospect of a reunion for the long-
separated sisters. "I've always, always wanted to see them
together," he told Reeder. "I'll lend you mine."
Scholars believe the vases may have been used to serve drinks at
a "symposium"--historyspeak for bawdy, all-guy bashes that
sound like ancient rehearsals for the toga parties in Animal
House. This month they'll take up residence in an exhibit
that strives for a sober look at the lives of women in the ancient
world. If the vases could talk, though, our guess is they'd likely
be muttering, "It's still a man's world."
"Pandora's Box" runs Nov. 4-Jan. 7 at the Walters, 600 N.
Charles St. 547-9000.
--JIM DUFFY
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