Saturday 29 December 2007

Recovered Masterpieces: ex Tempelsman collection

Among the antiquities displayed in the Rome exhibition, "Nostoi: Capolavori ritrovati", are objects formerly residing in well-known North American museums and significant private collections.

These include part of the former Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman collection that had been sold or donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum. Three further pieces had once formed part of the Maurice Tempelsman collection. These include a pair of griffins attacking a doe that featured in the Rome trial against Robert Hecht (Elisabetta Povoledo, "Photographs of Getty Griffins Shown at Antiquities Trial in Rome", New York Times, June 1, 2006):
According to court documents, the Getty bought the griffins from the New York diamond magnate Maurice Tempelsman in 1985 in a deal totaling $6,486,004. The sale was handled through the London dealer Robin Symes, the documents indicate.
Hecht reported the find-spot for the two polychome pieces was from Orta Nova. Giacomo Medici is quoted as saying that the Apollo came from a nearby villa.

The Tempelsman pieces are (using the numbers from the exhibition handlist):
56. Two griffins attacking a fallen doe. Marble, polychrome. Ex Getty 85.AA.106. Bibl. Gill and Chippindale 2007, Appendix A, no. 3.

57. Lekanis. Marble, polychrome. Ex Getty 85.AA.107. Bibl. Gill and Chippindale 2007, Appendix A, no. 2.

66. Marble statue of Apollo. Ex Getty 85.AA.108. Bibl. Gill and Chippindale 2007, Appendix A, no. 1.

References
Gill, D. W. J., and C. Chippindale. 2007. "From Malibu to Rome: further developments on the return of antiquities." International Journal of Cultural Property 14: 205-40.

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