TAZZA FARNESE

The Tazza Farnese, one of the largest, figural banded agate vessels known, has only recently been reinstalled in the galleries dedicated to the antiquities of the Farnese collection within the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. The book Medusa's Gaze is a popular presentation of the history of this cup.

Belozerskaya’s history of the tazza can be divided into two chronological periods, before and after its acquisition in the 1450s by King Alfonso of Aragon. 

The modern history is filled with rich detail. One is reminded of the use of the tazza’s interior scene as a source of inspiration for Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. Its retention by the Farnese family and the reasons by which it entered the collections in Naples are well-documented.