The Afrati Armour in Harvard

Source: Harvard Art Museums

The repatriation of the Afrati armour from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has implications for other museums. Harvard received several pieces in 1991, some inscribed, that had formed part of the Norbert Schimmel collection (like the pieces in the Met and the cuirass in the Michael C. Carlos Museum). 

Given the interest in the Afrati material by Matthew Bogdanos can we assume that these other pieces of armour will be returning to Crete in the near future?

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Allard Pierson Museum returns Sicilian pyxis

Source: Allard Pierson Museum

The Allard Pierson Museum has returned a figure-decorated pyxis from Centuripe to Sicily ("The Allard Pierson (University of Amsterdam) returns an ancient vase to Sicily and launches long-term international (research) collaboration", press release, October 7, 2026). The pyxis had been acquired at TEFAF in 1997: the press release does not name the dealer. 

It is reported that the dealer claimed that the pyxis had been known prior to 1970, i.e. the 1960s, but photographic evidence from Sicily showed that it was first known in 1976 [another source suggests 1979] when an image from the same roll of film recorded a wedding. A report in a Sicilian newspaper in 2017 (Giorgio Romeo, "Ad Amsterdam la pisside trafugata a Centuripe", La Sicilia December 10, 2017) identified the source as Herbert Cahn. 

The pyxis and its link with Cahn is noted in:

Portale, E. C., D. C. Martino, M. L. Saladino, E. Caponetti, and G. Chirco. 2017. "I “vasi di Centuripe”: per un approccio integrato." In Scienza e archeologia: Un efficace connubio per la divulgazione della cultura scientifica, edited by E. C. Portale and G. Galioto: 75–99. Pisa: Edizioni ETS.

For further discussion see the ARCA blog, "The Wedding Photographs That Exposed an “Old Swiss Collection”".

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Finds from Afrati, Crete

Source of image: Michael C. Carlos Museum
Creative Commons

The repatriation of Norbert Schimmel's helmets and mitrai from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has implications for other museum collections. One is the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University that purchased the breast- and back-plate of a bronze cuirass when it was sold at Christie's (London) in 2002 after it had formed part of the Axel Guttmann collection. It had been sold as part of the Schimmel collection at Sotheby's (New York) in 1992.

The cuirass was on loan to the Met from 1979 (inv. L.1979.49.7) as part of the exhibition Greek Art of the Aegean Islands (cat. no. 94). The catalogue stated - like the other pieces in the same exhibition - "said to be from Afrati on Crete".

The looting of Afrati in the 1960s was well documented and would have been known to the curatorial team at the MCCM. 

The Carlos has a public commitment to so-called "Provenance Research". The museum's position is stated as:

The Carlos is proactive in our approach to ownership resolution. Through the course of our research, if we find reason to believe that an object was looted from its original context or changed hands illegally or unethically, the Carlos takes immediate steps to rectify the situation and determine rightful ownership.

Can we assume that the Carlos will be contacting the Hellenic authorities to arrange for the cuirass to be returned to Greece so that it can be displayed with other material from Afrati in the Heraklion Museum?

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A volute-krater with a "tremendous provenance"

A volute-krater attributed to the Syriskos painter by J.R. Guy (see BAPD 44988) is said by Michael Padgett to have been found with a psykter-column-krater attributed to the Troilos painter recently repatriated to Italy from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (BAPD 15922). Fragments of both kraters were held, so Padgett informs us, by Rolf Blatter. (Blatter donated the Troilos painter fragments to the Met.)

Is it time for the present owner of the volute-krater to return it to Italy so that it can be displayed alongside its companion piece?

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Cretan bronzes to return to Greece

Helmet and two mitrai from Afrati, Crete
Source: New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Part of what Günter Kopcke called "freebooter's loot" from Afrati on Crete has been returned to Greece from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The looting appears to have taken place c. 1964, well before the 1970 UNESCO Convention. The MMA pieces had formed part of the Norbert Schimmel collection. 

This has implications for two other North American university collections that hold Afrati material derived from the Schimmel collection. 

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Another Bürki object returns to Italy

Source: MMA

A psykter column-krater attributed to the Troilos painter was deaccessioned by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in June 2026 (1986.11.12; BAPD 15922). The history of the piece was recorded by the MMA:

[By 1982, (perhaps late 1970s), with Sandro Cimicchi, Basel, Switzerland]; [until 1985, with Christoph Leon, Basel, Switzerland]; [1985-86, with Christie’s, London]; acquired in 1986, purchased from Christie’s, London (lot 141).

However, the Manhattan DA added that the krater was 'smuggled out of Italy by Fritz Bürki'. The Christie's sale was on July 16, 1986.

The references on the MMA website omit the publication in the volume of Essays in Honor of Dietrich von Bothmer (2002).

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Two more Bothmer donations returned to Italy

Cup attributed to near Psiax. Source: MMA.

In February 2026 two fragmentary Attic cups that had been given to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art by Dietrich von Bothmer were deaccessioned pending their return to Italy. Both were donated in 1984, and both had been acquired from Fritz Bürki. One was a bilingual cup attributed to near Psiax (1984.500.1; BAPD 44520) and the other cup was attributed to Epiktetos with a kalos inscription of Hip(p)archos (1984.500.2; BAPD 9055412).

We should note that the MMA has earlier returned a black-figured mastos attributed to Psiax (1975.11.6; BAPD 4525). Bürki was the source of other returns from the MMA including fragments from a Makron cup (1978.11.7a, d), and fragments of the Apulian dinos attributed to the Dinos painter (1984.11.7). He was also the source of some 11 per cent of the fragments in the sample selection of Bothmer fragment collection acquired by the MMA.