It was a hot August day in the Plaka. I had just descended from the Acropolis and even my souvenir-hunting soul was resisting the restorative qualities of my third iced frappé of the day.
I could pass most of the tourist shops with ease. But then I saw an unusual piece in the window of a store.
It was unusually appealing, a statuette painted in the ancient striped style of Mycenean art. This was a shop, not a museum. Obviously, it was a reproduction, not an original. I stepped inside to read the info card and find out where this charming, expression-filled item had been originally found.
But the tag just gave a price in Euros, with no information on its original provenance, which most museum reproductions provide.
And that price in Euros was high enough that I tightened up my grip on my purse - not because I was afraid of spending that much, but because I was afraid of knocking something over in the crowded shop.
As I looked around to find a safe path through the ceramics, I realized that my charming statuette was not alone. Everywhere on the shelves were equally beautiful pieces. After years of poring over Greek art books of every description, I didn't recognize any of them, either. Yet they seemed familiar in spirit.
I went toward the back of the shop, where several larnaxes - medium-sized boxes made of clay - waited, all adorned with intriguing details, some with unexpected figurines clinging precariously to their steep sides, all inviting touch and even play.
I dared to lift the lid on one box and was surprised to find a reproduction of an ancient bronze tool inside. For a moment, I felt like a tomb robber. It was all I could do to keep from asking the proprietor if he knew they'd left the tool in there when they dug it up.
But the prices, while beyond my modest souvenir budget for that trip, were certainly not high enough for illicit antiquities. These strange and compelling objects had to be by a modern hand.
Finally, George Ekonomeas, the gallery owner and manager, saw my confusion. "They're by a Greek artist, Antonis Pallas. But they look ancient, don't they?" He showed me the secrets of some of the other pieces. "We like for them to always have a surprise," he said, opening other vessels, showing me the items concealed inside of them. In one, there was a small exquisite figurine, in another a pair of finely-wrought bronze tools, and one more contained a little bull.
If you're easily bored by reproductions, this may be the shop for you. They offer international shipping.
Ekonomeas Gallery
The Plaka area, Athens
1 Dexippou & Panos Street, on the corner
Telephone/fax: +30 210 3247688
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