Image Details

Photo from National Treasures of Georgia, Philip Wilson Publishers.

Eyes ablaze, the Greek god Pan shrieks to the heavens in this second-century B.C. bronze relief. Once part of the decoration of a large bronze ritual vessel, the 5-inch-long sculpture was found in Vani, in western Georgia, though it was probably imported from Hellenistic Greece. It is part of a dazzling collection of Georgian treasures that was scheduled to tour the United States beginning this past fall. But the show was derailed at the last minute, when Georgian politics got in the way. In “Canceled: A new exhibit of 5,000 years of Georgian art,” Jack Meinhardt tells the troubled story of this magnificent exhibit that almost was.