Steinhardt Panathenaic Amphora Returns to Egypt

Panathenaic amphora. Left: HSI New York. Right: Manhattan DA [Exhibit 73]

The return of antiquities to Egypt via the Manhattan DA included a Panathenaic amphora ("D.A. Bragg Returns 16 Stolen Antiquities to the People of Egypt", September 7, 2022). Images from the event show that it was one of the objects seized from the collection of Michael Steinhardt. 

The Manhattan DA document suggested an association with the site of Thonis-Heracleion. 

The style and details on the Vase from the Pan-Athenian Games are characteristic of black-figure pots recovered from recent underwater excavations at Thonis-Heracleion, off the coast of Egypt.

Such a findspot would be surprising given that there is no indication that the amphora has been derived from an underwater location. Was the amphora found elsewhere in Egypt?

The amphora was purchased by the dealer, Gil Chaya, in Dubai from Mohd Said Issa Mousa Jaradot. Steinhardt purchased the amphora on December 23,  2008, for $300,000.

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Surfacing Antiquities at Christie's

Canaanite figure
Source: Symes-Michaelides archive

Two further antiquities due to be auctioned at Christie's New York on December 9, 2015 have been identified by Glasgow University researcher, Dr Christos Tsirogiannis.

• Lot 45. Celtic bronze dagger and scabbard. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000. 'From a Texas Private Collection'. Collection history: 'with Robert Haber, New York. Acquired by the current owner from the above, 1986'. Images of the dagger appear in the Becchina archive where they are listed as 'Villanovan'.
• Lot 101. A Canaanite bronze enthroned deity. Estimate: $100,000-$150,000. 'The property of a New York private collector'.  Collecting history: 'with Mathias Komor (1909-1984), New York (inventory no. F.761). Antiquities, Sotheby's, New York, 29 November 1989, lot 17.' Six images of the figure appear in the Symes-Michaelides photographic archive.

When did lot 45 pass through the hands of Becchina? When did lot 101 for part of the stock of Robin Symes?

These two examples suggest that the due diligence process used by Christie's in New York is unable to identify such recently surfaced pieces. 

Villanovan dagger and scabbard
Source: Becchina archive

Such identifications appear on a regular basis and can only serve to undermine buyers' confidence in the market.

We presume that Christie's will now be contacting the relevant authorities to clarify the situation.

Craig Evans and the Ossuaries

There are ongoing discussions about the surfacing of new papyri on the market. I have posted my review of Craig A. Evans, Jesus and the Ossuaries (2003) on academia.edu as it touches on related points.

Masters of Fire

The New York Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) is hosting an exhibition, Masters of Fire: Copper Age Art from Israel (February-June 2014). It is accompanied by a catalogue edited by Michael Sebbane, Osnat Misch-Brandl, and Daniel M. Master (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014). The 157 exhibits are on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel Museum, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, the Katzrin Museum and Tel Aviv University. There are seven explanatory essays (with critical apparatus) by Daniel M. Master, Thomas E. Levy, Dina Shalem, Osnat Misch-Brandl, Yorke M. Rowan, Michael Sebbane, and Orit Shamir.

As Roger S. Bagnall reminds us the Nahal Mishmar hoard lies at the heart of the exhibition. Material from excavated and recorded contexts are vital for the interpretation of this period of the Middle East. Associated finds build up a richer picture of society and how it developed.

Among the financial sponsors of the exhibition and this catalogue are individuals who appear to have been associated with recently surfaced antiquities such as the gold phiale returned to Sicily, and the cuneiform tablets returned from Cornell to Iraq. It is good that an exhibition like this can encourage those benefactors to move their interests from collecting to the public display and interpretation of archaeological finds.

Jonathan Rosen and the Israel Museum

There is much interest in the museums that have received donations from Jonathan Rosen (see here) in the wake of the returns to Iraq. Rosen's donation of 1200 silver coins to the Israel Museum has been shortlisted for the Apollo 2013 Acquisition of the Year. It will be interesting to read their full collecting histories. | |

A Minoan larnax in New York

In 2002 the Michael J. Carlos Museum acquired a Minoan larnax. Its full collecting history has not been disclosed. Then in 2006 or 2007 Houston's Museum of Fine Arts (MFAH) received a larnax as a gift from Shelby White. Its full collecting history has yet to be revealed.

However these two larnakes were preceded by the anonymous gift of a LMIIIB example "in memory of Nicolas and Mireille Koutoulakis" to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 1996.521a,b). Koutoulakis, it will be remembered, appeared in the infamous "organigram" that featured in the "Medici Conspiracy".

So what is the full collecting history of the New York larnax? Who was the anonymous donor? When was the larnax removed from its (supposed) funerary context on Crete?

A further larnax to note here is the ex-Borowski example in Bible Lands Museums in Jerusalem (inv. 4738; Glories of Ancient Greece no. 20) [noted]. It is close (as the catalogue makes clear) to an east Cretan example in the Ayios Nikolaos Museum (inv. 282; Im Labyrinth des Minos no. 260). What is the full collecting of the Borowski larnax?


Further reading
Bernheimer, G. M. 2001. Glories of ancient Greece: vases and jewelry from the Borowski collection. Jerusalem: Bible Lands Museum.
Watrous, L. V. 1991. "The Origin and Iconography of the Late Minoan Painted Larnax." Hesperia 60: 285-307. [JSTOR]