Princeton Issues Statement

Source: MiBAC

Princeton University has issued a limited statement that does little to provide information about the return of material to Italy ("Princeton University Art Museum, Italy reach new antiquities agreement", January 25, 2012, press release). There is no comment about the donor or the vendor of the pieces.

The transfer agreement is an addendum to an agreement with Italy that the University entered into in 2007. It builds upon the museum's history of successfully resolving ownership claims for works of art in its collections.

Under the agreement, six works were returned to the Republic of Italy in December 2011. The transfer of title for the six returned items is an important aspect of the agreement because it recognizes that legal title rested with Princeton before the transfer and that the works were acquired by Princeton in good faith.

The items that were transferred are a black-glazed askos; a pair of female statuettes; four fragments of a red-figure calyx krater; fragments of an architectural relief; a pithos in white-on-red style; and a group of fragmentary architectural revetments.

"The spirit of these negotiations has sought to maintain scholarly access to important works of art while honoring international agreements relative to the disposition of cultural property," said James Steward, director of the Princeton University museum. "As with our previous agreement, the museum and the University established a matrix of criteria to evaluate the status of these objects, including such factors as the object's probable site of discovery and place of manufacture."