The masterpieces of the most renowned collection of ancient vases in Europe. History, mythology, manufacturing techniques of a handicraft essential to the living.
With its eight thousands specimens, the vases collection of National Archaeological Museum has no equal in terms of antiquity, quantity and quality. It began with the Eighteenth century excavations by Domenico Venuti, “General Superintendent to the Excavation of Antiquity in the Reign”, which brought back to light in the necropolis of Campania the first group of “Etruscan vases”, as they were called then. Later, this precious corpus was enlarged by other thousands of pieces resulting from the archaeological excavations in Magna Graecia and from famous collections purchased by the Museum. The Attic vases, signed by the ceramic decorator Assteas, the Vivenzio hydria with the representation of the fall of Troy, the impressive Apulian craters from Ruvi and Canosa: an exhaustive encyclopaedia of porcelain between the VIII and the II century B.C., from the “impasto” technique of the Iron Age to the bucchero, from Attic figurative ceramics to Italian and Hellenistic handiwork.