Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Collector · Donor

Maria Gaffiero

1896–1980 · Cyprus

Nicosia collector, probably Maria Eleftheriou-Gaffiero (1896-1980), whose Mycenaean vases appeared in CVA Cyprus 2 and whose bequest of nearly 650 objects went to the Cyprus Museum in 1980.

Biography

In 1980 the Cyprus Museum received a bequest of nearly 650 ancient objects from Mrs Maria Gaffiero of Nicosia2. The same year it acquired a large group of gold earrings, mostly Classical and Roman, that had belonged to her collection2.

Vassos Karageorghis had listed her among six private collectors at the start of Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Cyprus 2 (1965): "Mrs. M. Gaffiero of Nicosia possesses only a small collection of Mycenaean vases, mainly bought from various sources early in the century"3. The vases are of common types, apart from one jug of a new shape. The Bulletin de correspondance hellénique report for 1979 shows a "Collection Maria Gaffiero, Nicosie" holding a large Bichrome IV barrel jug, 35.2 cm high, with a stylised bird1.

A 2016 publication gives Maria Eleftheriou-Gaffiero as born in Limassol in 1896 and dead in 1980, a pupil at the Arsakeion who studied theatre in Athens and taught in Limassol and Nicosia4. The two are identified with each other by name, city and year of death alone.

Life and work

  1. 1965
    Her small collection of Mycenaean vases (section VI, pls 41-42) published by Karageorghis in CVA Cyprus 2; Karageorghis says it was mainly bought from various sources early in the century and includes a jug of a new shape (pl. 42/7).

    NicosiaKarageorghis 1965

  2. 1979
    A large Bichrome IV barrel jug (H. 35.2 cm) with a stylised bird on the shoulder, from her collection, noted in the Chronique des fouilles for 1979.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 1980

  3. 1980
    Bequest to the Cyprus Museum of nearly 650 ancient objects.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 1981

  4. 1980
    The Cyprus Museum acquired an important group of gold earrings (mostly Classical and Roman) that had belonged to the Maria Gaffiero collection.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 1981

Connections

1 person

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Objects

  • Large Bichrome IV barrel jug with stylised bird on shoulder, H. 35.2 cm

    1979Karageorghis 1980

  • Small jug, new shape in Mycenaean vase repertory (CVA Cyprus 2, pl. 42/7)

    by 1965Karageorghis 1965

  • Gold earrings, mostly Classical and Roman

    Cyprus Museum1980Karageorghis 1981

Sources

  1. 1.V. Karageorghis (1980). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1979”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 104.
  2. 2.V. Karageorghis (1981). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1980”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 105.
  3. 3.V. Karageorghis (1965). Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Cyprus 2: Cyprus, Private Collections I. Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.
  4. 4.T. Stylianou-Lambert, A. Bounia (2016). The Political Museum: Power, Conflict, and Identity in Cyprus.
  5. 5.Nicholas Stanley-Price (2025). “Illicit excavation and the sale of 'duplicate' antiquities: Rupert Gunnis and the Cyprus Museum, 1926-1932”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 55, 269-301. Online