Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum

Fragment of a pithos (large storing jar) with abstract vegetative decoration, found in Cnossos. Terracotta, Palace Style, Late Minoan II (c. 1450–1400 BC). Louvre, first vase published by CVA.
Author	Various
Illustrator	Various
Country	28 countries (2018)
Discipline	Art and archaeology
Publisher	100+ member museums
Published	1923 on
Media type	Print
No. of books	300+ (2018)

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum ("corpus of ancient vases"; abbreviated CVA) is an international research project for documentation of ancient ceramics. Its original ideal target content: any ceramic from any ancient location during any archaeological period, proved impossible of realization and was soon restricted to specific times and periods. As the project expanded from an original six nations: England, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Italy,^[1] to include the current 28,^[2] the topic specializations of each country were left up to the commission for that country. The French commission (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres), serves in an advisory position.

The terminology of any commission regarding the target content of any documentation activity must not be confused with archaeological terms. For example, the CVA Online concerns itself with ancient Greek pottery, excluding the pottery of the Bronze Age. Such a decision does not imply that the pottery of the Bronze Age is not ancient Greek, but means only that CVA Online's "ancient Greek" category does not include it.