Drawing attention to "provenance" at the Met

Courtesy of Christos Tsirogiannis

One of largest group of repatriated material from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art was dervied from Palladion Antike Kunst and from Mr & Mrs Gianfranco Becchina.

The items include:

1. Attic bf lekythos, attributed to the manner of Elbows Out. Inv. 1985.11.3 [Until 1985, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1985, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 16461.  
2. Attic bf mastos, attributed to Psiax. Inv. 1975.11.6 [Until 1975, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1975, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 4525; Mertens 1979, 23 n. 13, pl. 9.1–4; Mertens 2010, 28–29, fig. 14. 
3. Attic bf amphora fragment, attributed to Lydos. Inv. 1985.11.1. [Until 1985, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1985, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 14695; Bothmer 1985, 40–41, 56, fig. 25, n. 48.  
4. Attic bf amphora fragment, attributed to the Amasis painter. Inv. 1985.11.2. [Until 1985, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1985, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 14683; Bothmer 1985, 34, 108, no. 17.  
5. Attic bf amphora fragment, attributed to the Amasis painter. Inv. 1985.53. [Until 1985, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; 1985, acquired by Dietrich von Bothmer, purchased from Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion; acquired in 1985, gift of Dietrich von Bothmer. This artwork was restituted in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 14680; Bothmer 1985, 76, no. 2bis.  
6. Attic wg cup, attributed to the Villa Giulia painter. Inv. 1979.11.15. [Until 1979, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1979, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 5330; Bothmer and Mertens 1979/80, 14–15; Mertens 1987, 59, no. 41; Picón, C.A. et al. 2007, 118, 430, no. 129; Connelly 2007, 111–12, fig. 4.19, pl. 8. 
7. Pair of gold Apulian cylinders. Inv. 1981.134.1, .2 [Until 1981, with Gianfranco Becchina]; acquired in 1981, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gianfranco Becchina. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. 

You would think that it would make the curatorial staff at the MMA sensitive to any other material with this association. Thus, it came as a bit of a surprise that the example used in the Cycladic symposium today to show how "provenance" is displayed on the MMA website used the Cycladic figure that Christos Tsirogiannis identified from the Becchina archive. And the slide used quoted the "public" statement of previous history:

[By 1981, collection of Noroyoshi Horiuchi, Tokyo]; [until 1983, with Ariadne Galleries, New York]; 1983, acquired by Leonard Stern, purchased from Ariadne Galleries, New York; 1983-2022, collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Stern, New York; 2022, transferred to Greece; 2024-2034, on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Hellenic Republic.

The mention of the Becchina association was left unmentioned in the presentation even though that particular individual has been associated with objects handled by Horiuchi.

This does not feel like a rigorous engagement with the origins of the Stern collection. 

| |

A Cycladic(ising) Journey

In September 2025 New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art returned a number of items, including Cycladic, to Greece. The EC collared jar (inv. 2004.342.1) was significant enough to include in S. Hemingway, "Art of the Aegean Bronze Age." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 69 (2012), 21, fig. 34, and it is a reminder that as recently as 2004 the museum had been receiving suspect Cycladic material.

The controversial long-term loan of the Stern collection of Cycladicising material will be celebrated today by a symposium, "Journey to the Cyclades: Exploring the Early Cycladic Culture of Greece". Hemingway is due to be speaking about cultural patrimony. One hopes that the Director, Max Hollein, will talk about the reason why the Met has had to return so many hundreds of Etruscan, Greek and Roman antiquities to the countries where they were found. 

It is disappointing to see that issues relating to context and authenticity are not addressed as explicit topics by specific speakers. Will the issue of the figure that appears in the Becchina photographic archive be rehearsed? And will the Greek position on figure fragments derived from the Keros Haul [not a "Hoard"] be made clear?

For further discussion of the Stern collection see:

Gill, D. W. J. 2025. "Artwashing the Cyclades: The Leonard N. Stern Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." BMCR. 

—. 2025. "Leonard Stern Collection of Cycladic Antiquities". Museum of Looted Art. 

—. and C. Tsirogiannis. 2025. "The Stern Collection of Cycladic Figures and the Metropolitan Museum of Art." MeditArch 38: 1–24.

| |

Authenticity and Cycladic figures

I understand that in February there will be a closed conference to explore the Stern collection of Cycladicising objects currently on loan to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of the key issues that needs to be explored relates to the authenticity of the figures. Are some of them modern creations? Are some recreated from genuine figures? Are some the work of well-known forgers of Cycladic figures? Will it be possible to identify the works of forgers in other collections, perhaps including the Met?

Will delegates of the conference restate the importance of archaeological context in determining authenticity? Or will there be an exploration of "the land of parallel" where similar figures may not have secure contexts?

What will be the lasting academic contribution of this conference to the Early Cycladic period?

For further reading:

Tsirogiannis, C., D. W. J. Gill, and C. Chippindale. 2022. "The Forger’s Tale: An insider’s account of corrupting the corpus of Cycladic figures." International Journal of Cultural Property 29: 369–85. [Online]

Tsirogiannis, C., D. W. J. Gill, and C. Chippindale. 2025. "A Corrupt Cycladic Corpus of Marble Figures." Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies 13: 203–33. [Online]

| |

Looking Ahead: 2026

Welcome to 2026. What lies ahead in terms of cultural property?

I note that over 2,000 objects from North American museums, private collections, and galleries have been returned to Italy. Yet I am aware of a number of single and group items that can be identified from the Becchina, Medici and Symes archives that have yet to be returned. This includes objects in museums that have so far not returned anything. 

It would be helpful if museums were to be more transparent over their repatriated material. Should there be consistency in providing information about previous owners? How do they flag up what has been returned? Are digital records amended when items have been returned? Some museums have been extremely co-operative and have responded to queries, while others ignore requests for information. (And I know from colleagues that I am not alone in not receiving a response.)

Those who have been following my recent publications will know that I have looking at examples of "The Fragment Scheme" relating to Attic and South Italian pottery. These fragments include single items among the returns, the giving and selling of joining fragments, and batches of material. In December I came across yet another large batch of material derived from Italian contexts and split between two nominal "collectors" (but probably those who paid for the acquisition). 

2025 was a year in which I returned to the theme of Cycladic figures with a review article on the Stern collection as well as an analysis (with Christos Tsirogiannis) of the material that forms the loan at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition three of us published an extended essay on the corrupt corpus of Cycladic figures. We await with interest the outcomes from the Cycladic conference at the MMA that will no doubt seek to address issues relating to authenticity, context, and attributions. The conference organisers will no doubt have put together a balanced panel of speakers who will be able to highlight the intellectual value of the Stern collection of Cycladicising objects.

| |

A head of Hermes from a genuinely old Italian collection

Source: San Antonio Museum of Art

Among the deaccessioned items from the San Antonio Museum of Art in January 2022 was a marble head of Hermes. The head was excavated on the Caelian Hill in Rome between 1887 and 1891: it was first published in 1894.

It is reported to have been sold to Gilbert Denman in 1971 by Alfredo Turchi (Rome) and subsequently given to the museum in 1986 (inv. 86.134.145). 

Carlos A. Picón published images of the head, "which entered the newly established Department of Antiquities at the San Antonio Museum of Art in 1986", in 1995. In a footnote he claimed that it was unpublished.

The head was identified by Jörg Deterling  in 2016 who recognised it from the original Italian publications.

Picón, C. A. 1995. "Polykleitan and related sculptures in American collections: recent acquisitions." In Polykleitos, the Doryphoros, and tradition, edited by W. G. Moon: 229–45. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

| |

Further returns to Italy from the San Antonio Museum of Art

Source: San Antonio Museum of Art

In addition to the objects deaccessioned by the San Antonio Museum of Art in September 2025, the museum  had done the same for another group in January 2022. These were mentioned (without significant detail) in a press release from the Manhattan DA in 2023. These items included material that surfaced through various sources:

Christie's (Geneva)

Attic red-figured lekythos. Inv. 86.134.75. Surfaced through Christie’s (Geneva) May 1979; Sotheby’s (London) May 1982. 

Christie's (London)

Attic white ground lekythos. Inv. 86.134.170. Surfaced through Christie’s (London) July 1983; July 1985. 

Frederick Schultz

Attic red-figured head kantharos. Inv. 91.24. Surfaced through Frederick Schultz, 1989. 

Galerie Günter Puhze

Attic black-figured lekythos. Inv. 91.80.1. Galerie Günter Puhze, 1989. 

Palladion Antike Kunst

Attic black-figured amphora. Inv. 86.134.31. Surfaced through Palladion Antike Kunst; Sotheby’s (London) December 1981. 

Attic red-figured oinochoe. Inv. 86.134.58. Surfaced through Palladion Antike Kunst; Robert Hecht. 

Robin Symes

Portrait of Hadrian. Inv. 2005.1.81. Robin Symes; Royal-Athena Galleries; Sotheby’s (New York) June 1992. [Image identified in the Medici Dossier.]

"Dating to 200 C.E., the marble head of the Emperor Hadrian was first documented uncleaned and covered in marine encrustations in a polaroid photograph. The polaroid was recovered by Italian law-enforcement authorities during a raid of the office and warehouse of well-known antiquities trafficker Giacomo Medici in 1995. After being smuggled out of Italy by Medici and his co-conspirators, the piece was then laundered with false provenance by dealer-trafficker Robin Symes before being sold in New York County in 1992." (Manhattan DA)

Sotheby's (London)

Corinthian olpe. Inv. 93.17. Surfaced in Sotheby’s (London) July 1990; Charles Ede. 

Attic black-figured amphora. Inv. 86.134.173. Surfaced in Sotheby’s (London) July 1985. 

Attic red-figured lekythos. Inv. 86.134.79. Surfaced through Sotheby’s (London) May 1982. 

Alfredo Turchi

Head of Hermes. Inv. 86.134.145. Sold by Alfredo Turchi.

The head of Hermes was excavated in Rome in the 19th century. 

| |

Returns to Italy from the San Antonio Museum of Art

Source: San Antonio Museum of Art

A series of deaccessions has been made in September 2025 by the San Antonio Museum of Art. They consist of mostly South Italian pots and one Etruscan terracotta:

• South Italian oinochoe (inv. 97.8). Sold by Peter Sharrer.
• Gnathian hydria (inv. 86.119.3.a–b). Surfaced at Sotheby's (London) December 1982; sold by Atlantis Antiquities.
• Two Apulian epichyses (inv. 88.11.1.a–b). Surfaced at Sotheby's (London) December 1987.
• Paestan bell-krater (inv. 2005.1.72). Surfaced at Sotheby's (London) December 1986; Charles Ede Ltd.
• Paestan fishplate (inv. 87.17). Galerie Hydra, Geneva; Sotheby's (London) December 1986; Charles Ede Ltd.
• Etruscan terracotta figure of a woman (inv. 88.11.2). Surfaced at Sotheby's (London) December 1987.

Other items were deaccessioned in February 2021, and January 2022. 

The way that many of these pieces surfaced through Sotheby's (London) is significant. (For others from these same auctions see here.) Galerie Hydra is associated with material linked to Giacomo Medici (see here).

| |