"A profoundly generous supporter of the Met"

The New York Times has reflected on the seizure of antiquities collected by Shelby White. There are informed comments from academics who research cultural property. 

Bowley and Mashberg commented:

For all the understanding of the ancient world that White had fostered, her ambitious collecting upset some archaeologists who thought it helped create a market that encouraged looting. When objects were wrenched from their original context, they complained, it undermined the very understanding of antiquity that she was trying to develop.

Patty Gerstenblith is quoted:

“If you pick a trustee whose financial generosity is the most important factor, then fine ... But should a trustee be a model of conduct when it pertains to the purpose of the museum itself? Her collecting practices do not fit the model of how a museum should be pursuing knowledge and preserving the historical record.”

Max Hollein, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and who is said to be championing a new spirit of transparency at the museum stated:

“Shelby White is a profoundly generous supporter of the Met ... and she has had an enormous impact at this museum and many other institutions."

This report by Bowley and Mashberg comes 23 years after the first analysis of the Shelby White and Leon Levy collection. 

When will the Icklingham Roman bronzes be returned to Suffolk (UK) so that they can be displayed in the county museum? What about the krater that was on loan to Houston Museum of Fine Arts?

There continue to be some unanswered questions.

• Bowley, G., and T. Mashberg. 2023. "At the Met, She Holds Court. At Home, She Held 71 Looted Antiquities." New York Times July 17, 2023.
• Chippindale, C., and D. W. J. Gill. 2000. "Material consequences of contemporary classical collecting." AJA 104: 463-511.  [DOI]
• Gill, D. W. J. 2023. "Context matters: Returns from the Shelby White Collection." Journal of Art Crime 29: 49–55.

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Theft in Greece: surfacing in Athens, New York and Basel

Greek archaeologist Angelos Zardakas had identified a head looted from the Liopesi collection in 1967 (Marianna Kakaounaki, "The mystery of two looted heads", ekathermini.com, 18 February 2021).  It was identified in the Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum in Athens.

A companion piece, stolen from the same collection (also in 1967), had been identified in the 1990s from the Shelby White and Leon Levy collection; it has subsequently been returned to Greece and placed in storage in the National Archaeological Museum. 

A third piece from the same raid, "the top part of the funerary stele of Euthesion of Pallene that is currently on show at the Archaeological Museum of Basel in Switzerland", has yet to be returned to Greece even though it was identified back in 1971.

Who handled these pieces of sculpture? Which networks were used? When does Basel intend to return the stele?

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The Perge Weary Herakles in Context

Boston's Museum of Fine Art returned the upper part of the Weary Herakles to Turkey. Indeed it appeared in the Glories of the Past exhibition.

Susan Wood has now placed the sculpture back in its original context with her discussion, "Klaudios Peison Anetheken: a gift of sculpture at the South Baths of Perge", American Journal of Archaeology 121, 3 (2017) 439-66. The Herakles is illustrated (p. 444, fig. 3; noting formerly Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, inv. no. 1981.783.VR), and listed in the appendix (pp. 460-61, cat. no. 4). Wood notes: 'the Weary Herakles ... must have been illegally excavated and exported from Turkey before 1981, when the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, purchased the fragment' (p. 444).

The full collecting history can be found here.

Bronze krater (once) on loan to Houston

I have been rather taken aback by the amount of interest to my post on a bronze krater that was once (and perhaps still is) on loan to Houston. I had been looking forward to the publication of the piece by Conrad Stibbe in the volume for Leon Levy but I understand from colleagues in NYC that this will not be appearing.

Does this mean that there is a move to return the krater to FYROM?

I have commented elsewhere on the Koreschnica krater and its burial.

Parts of the tomb assemblage appear to be in a major North American university collection so there could be significant implications if this group is investigated.

Robert Hecht trial expires

Those following the trial of Robert Hecht in Rome will remember the predictions back in 2006: "For a man accused of crimes punishable by as many as eight years in prison, Mr. Hecht seems relatively unperturbed by the trial. (The reason may be that even if he is convicted, he is unlikely to spend a single night in prison, if only because of his age, legal experts say)" (Elisabetta Povoledo, "Antiquities Dealer on Trial in Getty Case Is Vexed but Unbowed", New York Times June 21, 2006). He was linked to the sale of the Sarpedon krater to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a hoard of Hellenistic silver ("The Morgantina hoard"). The article reminds us that objects sold through Atlantis Antiquities, co-owned by Jonathan Rosen, have been returned to Italy. Indeed Shelby White and Leon Levy were apparently numbered among his clients.

Povoledo now reports that the Hecht trial has expired due to the statue of limitations ("Italian Trial of American Antiquities Dealer Comes to an End", New York Times blog, January 18, 2012).

The court ruling, issued Monday, came in response to a request from Mr. Hecht’s lawyer to dismiss the case because the statute of limitations on the charges had elapsed in 2011. The lawyer, Alessandro Vannucci, said he had hoped the trial would fully exonerate his client, who has always maintained his innocence, “but it was cut short.” This decision “does not do Bob justice,” he said, using Mr. Hecht’s nickname.

The judges did not express an opinion on culpability or innocence. But they ruled that a series of objects that had been confiscated from Mr. Hecht’s homes should return to their “rightful owner,” which was identified as the Italian state, a decision Mr. Vannucci said he would contest.

The trial may be inconclusive but it has reminded those who collect antiquities that they need to check the documented histories prior to purchase as part of a rigorous due diligence search.

Hecht also appears to have supplied antiquities to the Ny Carlsberg in Copenhagen, as well as to public collections in the United Kingdom. Objects that were acquired directly or indirectly from Hecht are likely to appear in the thousands of photographs in the various photographic archives derived from dealers in Greece and in Switzerland.

White-Levy Weary Herakles Signed to Turkey

Weary Herakles to be reunited

The upper part of a statue of "Weary Herakles" has been signed over to Turkey by Boston's Museum of Fine Arts [press release]. I have reviewed the collecting history before and a formal discussion appears in a paper (written with Christopher Chippindale) that appeared in The American Journal of Archaeology in 2000 [JSTOR]. The legs and abdomen were excavated at Perge in southern Turkey.

The Herakles torso appeared in The Glories of the Past exhibition (no. 172) with an entry written by Cornelius C. Vermeule III. The sculpture is thus one of several items from the Shelby White and Leon Levy collection that has had to be returned to its country of origin. White has had to hand over material to Italy and to Greece. She has still to resolve the situation over the Icklingham bronzes from Suffolk, England. It would also be interesting to learn the full collecting-history of the Trebenishte bronze krater in her collection.

The Herakles is a further reminder of the way that recently-surfaced antiquities were acquired by private collectors.

Weary Herakles to return to Turkey

One of the long running cultural property disputes has at last been resolved. It has been announced that Boston's Museum of Fine Arts will be returning the upper part of the so-called Weary Herakles to Turkey (Geoff Edgers, "Making ‘Herakles’ whole after all these years", July 17, 2011). I have discussed the collection history before. Essentially the Boston fragment will be reunited with the lower part of the statue that was discovered at Perge.

The statue had been acquired by the museum in 1981 (details). The public history is as follows:

By 1981: with Mohammad Yeganeh, Bundenweg 7, 6000 Frankfurt/Main (said to be from his mother’s collection and before that from a dealer in Germany about 1950); half interest purchased by MFA (with funds provided by the Jerome Levy Foundation) from Mohammad Yeganeh, December 30, 1981; remaining half interest owned by Leon Levy and Shelby White; remaining half interest gift from Shelby White to MFA, January 21, 2004

Edgers rehearses the full details of acquisition history and the link with the lower part now in Antalya. He also discusses the role of Cornelius Vermeule.

Objects from the Leon Levy and Shelby White collection have already been returned to Greece and Italy. Shelby White still retains the Icklingham Bronzes that are due to be returned to the UK.

New role for Philippe de Montebello

Lee Rosenbaum, Culturegrrl, is a shrewd observer of the cultural scene in North America. She is a fan of the Met's former director Philippe de Montebello - who can forget her moody rendering of "Philippe Baby"? (still unavailable on iTunes) - and comments on his new role as Special Advisor to the Leon Levy Foundation.

News to me last night was that among the many hats that Professor Philippe now wears is that of consultant ... to the Leon Levy Foundation headed by antiquities collector Shelby White, a major patron of the Met.

You can see him in the photo ..., at a meeting convened by the Levy Foundation on "how best to make available the trove of unpublished information from important ancient world sites excavated under "partage" agreements." Timothy Potts, erstwhile of the Kimbell, now director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, is in the top row, second from the left. Philippe, bottom row at the left; White, bottom row, third from left.

The issue of "partage" is one that has been highlighted in recent years by James Cuno.

A full list of those in the picture can be found here.

Image
From the Leon Levy Foundation.

Antiquities from Italy: the Bürki connection

Anyone following the return of antiquities will have come across the name of Fritz Bürki of Switzerland. When Boston's Museum of Fine Art returned thirteen antiquities to Italy in October 2006, the name of Bürki featured large. The most prominent piece was a marble statue of Sabina, the wife of the emperor Hadrian. This had been said to have resided in the collection of a Bavarian aristocratic family; its sale to the FMA had been negotiated by Robert Hecht. One of the other pieces was an Apulian amphora attributed to the Darius painter; it was sold by Bürki in 1991 jointly to Shelby White and Leon Levy, and to the MFA (with funds given by the Jerome Levy Foundation).

Bürki reappeared as a vendor to Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman. Among their collection was a Pontic amphora (identified by a polaroid seized in a raid on the Geneva Freeport). Another was an Apulian bell-krater attributed to the Choregos painter. One of the significant pieces was a fragment of wall-painting; this came from the same composition as a fragment returned to Italy by Shelby White. These Fleischman pieces were later passed to the J. Paul Getty Museum; their return was agreed in November 2006.

The J. Paul Getty Museum acquired several items from Bürki. Among them was an Attic black-figured zone cup, attributed (by J. Robert Guy) to the manner of the Lysippidies painter, purchased in 1987. A more elaborate piece was the Attic mask kantharos attributed to the Foundry painter (by J. Robert Guy) and acquired in 1985. The museum acquired an Apulian pelike attributed to the Darius painter in 1987.

Other museums have not been so forthcoming about their sources for objects that have been returned to Italy. However it was reported in November 2008 that Bürki is listed among the vendors for material returned from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Bürki is reported to have conserved the Sarpedon (Euphronios) krater before it was sold to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art by Robert Hecht.

Now the Italian police have announced that they are actively pursuing some 350 items handled by Bürki. It appears that they are circulating DVDs of the objects to dealers and auction-houses. It will certainly have the effect of dampening down the market. It appears that the objects were recorded as a result of a raid on Bürki's Zurich premises in October 2001.

The renewed interest in Bürki will once again focus on how the looting of archaeological sites in Italy has long-lasting impact on those who acquire archaeological material for public and private collections. The solution is clear: the market should only agree to handle objects that have a documented collecting history that can be traced back to the period before 1970 (the date of the UNESCO Convention).

Image
Portrait of Sabina, purchased from Fritz Bürki of Zurich, through Robert E. Hecht to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1979. Returned to Italy in 2006.

Philippe de Montebello and the Leon Levy Foundation

The Leon Levy Foundation has issued a press release ("Leon Levy Foundation Names Philippe de Montebello Special Advisor for Culture and the Arts", November 11, 2008).

The Leon Levy Foundation today named Philippe de Montebello, outgoing director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as special advisor for culture and the arts. Mr. de Montebello will join the Foundation in January 2009.

Mr. de Montebello said, "This is a natural extension of my life's work to expand and enrich the appreciation of art among all people, regardless of age and geography. I would very much like to see the Foundation's resources devoted to bringing creative approaches to untapped areas that hold special promise for broadening knowledge in the visual arts and other aspects of culture."

Shelby White, founding trustee of the Leon Levy Foundation, said, "We are pleased that Philippe will bring to the Leon Levy Foundation his knowledge and experience as an international leader in the arts and humanities to help us develop innovative programs in these areas."

Leon Levy is described as "a legendary investor with a longstanding commitment to philanthropy".

James Cuno on the Icklingham Bronzes

One of the issues that I hoped would be addressed by James Cuno was the decision to display one of the Icklingham bronzes in a loan exhibition, The Fire of Hephaistos (1996) no. 31, at Harvard University Art Museums. The piece, on loan from Shelby White and Leon Levy, was "Found in Suffolk, in southeastern England; purchased in 1988".

And here is the issue, on the very first page of Chapter 1, "Political Issues", of Who Owns Antiquity? (I received my review copy today.) Cuno notes the Fire of Hephaistos exhibition included bronzes from some private collections. One of Cuno's Harvard colleagues "objected to our borrowing a work from a particular private collection and claimed that it had been purchased in contravention of international law". Cuno explains in a rather vague way (without giving too much detail for the casual reader):

The work in question had been part of a controversy involving the British Museum and when I sought that museum director's advice, he assured me that so far as the British government and British Museum were concerned, the controversy was resolved and he had no objection to our exhibiting—and publishing—the Roman bronze, which we did.

What he does not mention is that the "controversy" was far from resolved for the Suffolk farmer, John Browning, from whose land the bronzes were reported to have been taken.

And why does Cuno fail to mention that the bronze in question had been removed from Icklingham or that it was acquired by Leon Levy and Shelby White?

Is it because Cuno wishes to portray the couple as "philanthropists and collectors of antiquities"? [p. 200 n. 7] Or is there some other reason? His book went to press before he could take account of the fact that Shelby White had returned some of her "Glories" to Italy, a public admission that the couple were acquiring recently surfaced antiquities.

Nor is there any mention by Cuno that Fire of Hephaistos was one of the exhibitions discussed by David Gill and Christopher Chippindale ("Material consequences of contemporary classical collecting." American Journal of Archaeology 104 [2000] 463-511 [JSTOR]). Is he really unaware of the literature?

So many questions raised from the opening paragraphs of chapter 1. What other issues will be raised?

Hillary Clinton on Looted Antiquities

What do the US Democratic presidential hopefuls think about the looting of antiquities?

I came across this from 2000 (Walter V. Robinson, "Art Collection Said to Brake Appointment", The Boston Globe, June 29, 2000):

The issue might also prove awkward for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is campaigning for the New York Senate seat that Moynihan is relinquishing. In Turkey last November, Clinton decried the looting of archeological sites in that country. For several years, Turkey has been pressing White and Levy to return the top half of a marble statue of the "Weary Heracles" that Turkey and experts say was looted about 1980.

The bottom half sits, incomplete, in a museum in Antalya that Hillary Clinton visited. Years ago, Levy and White donated a half-interest in the top of the statue to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which has also rebuffed Turkish pleas for its return.

I have discussed the Weary Herakles before. Half of the upper part was given to the MFA in 1981 through the generosity of Jerome Levy Foundation; and the remaining title was transferred to the MFA in January 2004 by Shelby White.

Now that Shelby White has made a public acknowledgment that there were recently-surfaced antiquities in her collection (and that is why she has returned ten of them to Italy), has the time come for the MFA to return the upper part of the statue to Turkey?

It was the intention of the original sculptor that the legs and upper body should form a single composition. Can the staff of the MFA make it happen?

Aegean Waves: Collecting Cycladic Figures

The Museum of Cycladic Art has published a volume, Aegean Waves, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of its foundation. It is beautifully produced, with colour illustrations, and is "addressed ... principally to the general public".

It notes the phenomenon of

illegal excavations on the Cyclades Islands, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s, to meet the demand on the international [emphasis mine] antiquities market. The result of this intensive activity on the part of antiquities smugglers was the plundering of hundreds of Early Cycladic tombs and the removal of evidence of inestimable value for scholars. (p. 41)

There is acknowledgment of the "Keros haul" (and Sotirakpoulou has written a definitive study of what she considers a "hoard"). Entry 14 shows a selection of fragmentary figures attributed to the "haul" and notes that it is "a characteristic example of the intense antiquities-smuggling that went on in the Cyclades ... in order to meet the great demand for Cycladic figurines on the international antiquities market". Entry 18 shows joining fragments from two pieces from the "haul" in the Museum of Cycladic Art (inv. nos. 1033 and 1017) and two fragments excavated from Kavos (Naxos Museum 4197 and 4272). It is asserted:

this is indisputable evidence that the aforementioned part of the "Keros Hoard", that seems to have been smuggled out of Greece and sold abroad as a group, does indeed come from Kavos on Keros.

While the joins do indicate the connection for these pieces, I remain to be convinced that every piece associated with the "haul" was found in the same location. And parts of the "Keros haul" continue to be displayed in public exhibitions.

There was certainly an international market for Cycladic figures and the fragmentary male figure (no. 30; inv. no. 969) once graced the cover for Antiquities from The Erlenmeyer Collection, Sotheby's (London), July 9, 1990.

Aegean Waves also illustrates a "Double marble figurine of unknown provenance" (p. 44, fig. 50). This featured in the Katonah Museum of Art's 2006 exhibition, Ancient Art of the Cyclades (no. 15, "mother-and-child composition") where it was listed as "Private collection, New York". This figure with "unknown provenance", or to be more precise "unrecorded find-spot", had in fact appeared in two other exhibitions: Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections as "Standing female two-figure image" (no. 18, "Collection of Shelby and Leon Levy") and Glories of the Past: Ancient Art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection as "Two joined standing female figures of marble" (no. 9). Is this the sort of piece the authors of Aegean Waves had in mind when thinking about the sort of figures that have been sold on the "international market"? The Museum of Cycladic Art has a very fragmentary example illustrated here (no. 41; inv. no. 339).

But was the market only international?

I observe that the entries in Aegean Waves do not include information about find-spots (except for the fragments from the "Keros haul"). It is worth re-reading Ricardo Elia's comments in response to Colin Renfrew's Cycladic Spirit:

One can only guess at the cost of forming the Goulandris collection in terms of archaeological sites destroyed and information lost.

Christopher Chippindale and I have explored the extent of the loss of information in our study of the "Material and intellectual consequences of esteem for Cycladic figures" (a work unreferenced in Aegean Waves). There is, however, an oblique reference in a discussion of marble figures attributed to the "Goulandris Sculptor" (no. 29).

Other scholars ... are of the opinion that these views carry the implication of artistic principles, aesthetic perceptions and social structures that are not consistent with what is known at present of Cycladic society in the 3rd millennium BC. They believe that the manner in which Cycladic figurines were made may have derived from a combination of a general sense of the proportions of the human body and the application of basic design principles that were established by centuries of repetition. The similarities between some of the figurines are attributed by them either to the existence of local workshops and traditions, or to the fact that they express a particular period.

The loss of archaeological contexts through the desire of collectors and museums to possess Cycladic figures has meant that the means of exploring such regional workshops has been lost for good.

Looting has had serious intellectual consequences for the study of Early Cycladic Culture.

References
Bothmer, D. von Editor. 1990. Glories of the Past: Ancient Art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Doumas, C. G. 2000. Early Cycladic Culture: The N.P. Goulandris Collection. Athens: N.P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art.
Elia, R. J. 1996. "A seductive and troubling work." In Archaeological Ethics, edited by K. D. Vitelli, pp. 54-62. Walnut Creek: Altamira.
Getz-Gentle, P. 2001. Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.
---. 2006. Ancient Art of the Cyclades. New York: Katonah Museum of Art.
Getz-Preziosi, P. 1987. Sculptors of the Cyclades: Individual and Tradition in the Third Millennium BC. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
---. 1987. Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections. Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Gill, D. W. J. 2002. Review of P. Getz-Gentle, Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2001). Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
---. 2007. Review of Peggy Sotirakopoulou, The "Keros Hoard": Myth or Reality? Searching for the Lost Pieces of a Puzzle (Athens: N.P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art, 2005). American Journal of Archaeology 111: 163-65. [Full text]
Gill, D. W. J., and C. Chippindale. 1993. "Material and intellectual consequences of esteem for Cycladic figures." American Journal of Archaeology 97: 601-59. [JSTOR]
Renfrew, C. 1991. The Cycladic Spirit: Masterpieces from the Nicholas P. Goulandris Collection. London: Thames & Hudson.
Sotirakopoulou, P. 2005. The "Keros Hoard": Myth or Reality? Searching for the Lost Pieces of a Puzzle. Athens: N.P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art.
Stampolidis, N., and P. Sotirakopoulou. 2007. Aegean Waves: Artworks of the Early Cycladic Culture in the Museum of Cycladic Art at Athens. Milan: Skira.

Homecomings: "Glories" with Lost Contexts

The antiquities returned to Italy by Shelby White have now gone on display in the Palazzo Poli (Fontana di Trevi), Rome and a short statement has been issued by the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (MiBAC) (see also Elisabetta Povoledo, "Repatriated Art in Rome", New York Times, March 29, 2008).

There is a short quotation from Shelby White:

la nostra collezione è stata acquistata in aste pubbliche e da commercianti che ritenevamo affidabili. Nel caso degli oggetti che ho volontariamente offerto di restituire, ho ritenuto che le prove fossero sufficienti a dimostrare che la loro fuoriuscita dall’Italia fosse discutibile.

She stresses several things. First, that the sources for her antiquities were public auctions or antiquities dealers who were considered "trustworthy". We now know that the dealers included Robin Symes and the auction houses, Sotheby's in London. Second, that this return was a voluntary arrangement. Third, that the evidence was such that it demonstrated that the objects had been removed from Italy in a possibly contentious way.

MiBAC also noted:

Il Ministero, accettando gli oggetti offerti, riconosce di non avere prove, né richieste legali che sia Leon Levy sia Shelby White abbiano agito illegalmente o impropriamente nella acquisizione di questi oggetti.

Certainly there has been no resort to legal action to have these objects returned.

Essentially Shelby White's position is this: she is a supporter of archaeology through excavations, publications, research and exhibitions. We need to hope that she will now concentrate on these core activities. However she still owns a collection of antiquities, some on loan to major public collections.

The MiBAC statement does not include the objects, so for completeness here they are (and see also my earlier list though there is one surprise addition and some missing items):

1. Bronze statue of naked youth. Glories of the Past no. 87. "This appears in three Polaroid photos and in about ten photographs in which the small bronze clearly appears still dirty with earth". Said to have been acquired from Robin Symes.
   
2. Chalcidian neck-amphora. Attributed to the painter of the Cambridge Hydria Cavalcade. Glories of the Past no. 102. "Appears among many seized photographs, where it is shown before proper restoration, with many gaps between the fragments."
3. Attic black-figured neck-amphora of Panathenaic shape. Attributed to the painter of Louvre F 6. Glories of the Past no. 104. Surfaced in Sotheby's (London) July 17, 1985, lot 313. "In the Polaroids, the amphora is broken and dirty with earth. In the other photographs ... it is shown as restored."
4. Attic black-figured neck-amphora. Attributed to a painter of the Medea group. Glories of the Past no. 107. "In four seized Polaroid photographs."
5. An Attic red-figured calyx-krater. A: Zeus and Ganymede. B: Herakles and Iolaos. Attributed to the Eucharides painter. Glories of the Past no. 117. The underside of the foot appears to carry an Etruscan graffito. Known from the Geneva Polaroids ("appears in fragments").
6. A fragment of Roman fresco. Glories of the Past no. 142. This appears to come from the same room as a fragment once in the Fleischman collection, and now returned to Italy from the Getty. (The other fragment has been on exhibition in Rome.)
7. A fragment of Roman fresco. Glories of the Past no. 143. Reclining woman. Apparently removed from "the Pompeii excavations, Regio VII, Insula occidentalis 42" on May 31, 1975. (Maxwell L. Anderson had noted in the catalogue, "the villa in which the fresco served as a wall decoration conceivably situated in the area of Castellammare di Stabia".)
   
8. Caeretan hydria. Showing a panther and lioness. "Both these vases were shown in the seized photographs, where they are both broken and in fragments, with sizable gaps."
9. Caeretan hydria. Showing Odysseus and Polyphemos' cave. "Both these vases were shown in the seized photographs, where they are both broken and in fragments, with sizable gaps.

The tenth item (that will follow later):

1. An Attic red-figured calyx-krater. Herakles slaying Kyknos. Euphronios. Discussed in Watson and Todeschini, The Medici Conspiracy 128-32. Illustrated in J. Boardman, The History of Greek Vases (London: Thames & Hudson, 2001), fig. 120. According to Watson and Todeschini, "Medici ... Hecht ... Summa Gallery"; then Hunt collection; Sotheby's (New York) June 19, 1990 (US $ 1.76 million); Robin Symes (on behalf of Leon Levy and Shelby White). Polaroids show in "dirty and in separate fragments".

It is reported that there were originally more than twenty items on the Italian list. The returning objects do not include two items known to be among those illustrated in the Geneva Polaroids (and listed in P. Watson and C. Todeschini, The Medici conspiracy: the illicit journey of looted antiquities from Italy's tomb raiders to the world's great museums (New York: Public Affairs 2006]):

1. Attic black-figured neck-amphora. Attributed to the Bucci painter (by J. Robert Guy). Glories of the Past no. 106. Surfaced in Sotheby's (London) December 9, 1985, lot 132.
2. Attic black-figured psykter. "Departure of a troop of cavalry". Glories of the Past no. 112. "The object in the seized photographs is completely fragmented and pictured on a kitchen tablecloth."

The neck-amphora attributed to the Bucci painter is not without interest as it appears to be the amphora consigned to Sotheby's by Christian Boursaud (Peter Watson, Sotheby's, the inside story [London: Bloomsbury, 1997] 118):

I amphore attique à figures noires avec son couvercle, VIème Siècle avant J.C.

It also was discussed at length by Chippindale and Gill ("Material consequences of contemporary classical collecting," American Journal of Archaeology 104 [2000]: 493-94 [JSTOR]). Why has it been retained?

Image
Attic red-figured calyx-krater. Attributed to the Eucharides painter. Formerly Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection. © ANSA.

The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World: Unclear on "Exhibiting Unprovenanced Artifacts"?

Staff members from the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World have been discussing its first exhibition, "Wine, Worship, and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani", that opens today (Kate Taylor, "From the Land Of the Golden Fleece", New York Sun, March 7, 2008). The exhibition will include excavated objects from Vani.

The Institute has been set up with the help of Shelby White and her late husband Leon Levy: Shelby White is the chairwoman of the Institute.

Perhaps what is so surprising is that the Institute's Director, Roger Bagnall, has chosen not to clarify his position on recently surfaced antiquities. Taylor writes:

Asked if the institute has a policy about publishing on or exhibiting unprovenanced artifacts, as some museums today do, Mr. Bagnall said he was "trying not to make any long-term policy decision now that doesn't have to be made," but he added that the issue would be addressed when the faculty was in place.

He perhaps needs to see what the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) have to say on loans of "ancient art" and archaeological material.

Taylor also draws attention to one of the administrative staff at the Institute, Jennifer Chi who holds the position of Associate Director for Exhibitions and Public Programs. Surprisingly the Institute biography does not mention that "she was previously the curator of the Levy-White collection" (as Taylor helpfully identified her). (See my comments on Chi's Greek Bronze Vessels exhibition catalogue.)

Indeed Chi is the editor and a contributor of Collecting in Context: Papers in Memory of Leon Levy (forthcoming 2008). This is the volume that is reported to contain Conrad Stibbe's discussion of a Trebenishte-style archaic bronze krater in the Shelby White collection. And this is presumably the volute-krater that was (and is?) on loan to Houston - and for which the Houston curatorial staff seem unable to provide information about its history even though, apparently, there is nothing to hide. (And let us not forget that Shelby White has still to provide a list of the antiquities that she has returned to Italy.)

Bagnall needs to make his position on looted antiquities crystal clear so that there is no misunderstanding.

Shelby White: Greek Bronze Vessels

Shelby White likes to present herself not just as a collector but as "a guardian" of antiquity. I have been using the beautifully produced catalogue of Greek bronze vessels from the collection of Shelby White & Leon Levy (2005). One of the pieces was first published in 1955; others surfaced more recently (but all after 1970); three appear here for the first time.

There are ten entries (and some of the pieces have appeared in the exhibition "Glories of the Past" (1990); the full bibliography for each piece is not provided here).

1. Four pyxides and an oinochoe. "Perhaps North-Eastern Greek, late 8th-7th centuries BC". Previous publication: Glories no. 80 (part).
2. Griffin protome. "From Olympia, perhaps near the River Alpheios (according to Jantzen)". Previous collections: von Streit (Athens); J. Scharpf (Münchenstein); M. Schuster (Lausanne). Previous publication: Glories no. 81; first published in 1955.
3. Seated lion. "Laconian, early sixth century BC". Previous publication: Glories no. 84.
4. Recumbant lion. "Perhaps Laconian, early to mid sixth century BC". Previous publication: C.M. Stibbe, The sons of Hephaistos (Rome 1998) 115-21, fig. 73.
5. Hermes. "Perhaps Laconian, mid-sixth century BC". Previous publication: C.M. Stibbe, The sons of Hephaistos (Rome 1998) 652, no. 43.
6. Athlete wearing perizoma. "Western Greek, mid-sixth century BC". Unpublished.
7. Trefoil oinochoe. "Northern Greek or Macedonian, probably second quarter of the fourth century BC". Previous publication: Glories no. 96.
8. Hydria. Relief of Orpheus and a satyr under handle. "Mid-fourth century BC". "Perfectly preserved"; "the preservation ... suggests that its final context was the grave". Unpublished.
9. Calyx-krater. "Perhaps Attic, second quarter of the fourth century BC". Previous reference: B. Barr-Sharrar, in Alexander the Great. From Macedonia to the Oikoumene (1998) 98 n. 4.
10. Dionysiac mask. "First century BC-first century AD". Unpublished.
    

There is little about the find-spots, except for the griffin protome (no. 2) which is reported to have a find-spot at Olympia. Take the North-Eastern Greek bronzes (no. 1). Glories describes the entry as "Part of a find" and in the catalogue entry (by Dietrich von Bothmer) it is noted:

The armlet, pyxides, and oinochoe once formed part of a much larger hoard, comprising forty bronze objects and one gold pectoral, known only from an old photograph.

Von Bothmer places them firmly in northern Greece: "these primarily Macedonian objects". The new catalogue merely notes that such bronzes were "destined ultimately for the tomb where they were placed in large numbers"; the hint at Macedonia is given by the oinochoe for which the spout "is typical of oinochoai found in the Chalkidike". And how old is the photograph? Who took it? Who supplied it?

The trefoil oinochoe (no. 7) "corresponds so closely in every detail to the oinochoe" found at Tsotyli in western Macedonia (The Search for Alexander [Boston 1980] no. 112) that von Bothmer commented that "it is safe to assume that the two are from the same workshop". Gaunt in Greek Bronze Vessels notes two others (that were previously linked in the Derveni catalogue): one from Derveni (Grave B; no. B33) and the other from Kozani. He then adds that they "are products not simply of one workshop, but are in all likelihood by the same hand". Curiously he also observes:

Traces of fabric in the patina on one side of the body ... indicate that this vessel was wrapped at the time of burial, suggesting that its final (if not original) use was funerary.

Where was this burial? Macedonia seems a possible candidate.

Not included here is the "bronze volute krater", similar to the one from Trebenishte (in the Republic of Macedonia), now on loan from Shelby White to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts (MFAH). The curatorial staff at MFAH tell me that the volute-krater was "included ... as a part of the exhibition of bronzes from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection" (e-mail of February 8, 2008). Why did it fail to make it into the catalogue? Indeed, it also failed to appear in the catalogue for The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art at Princeton University Art Museum (October 11, 2003 - January 18, 2004).

Is there something to hide?

No. Because Frances Marzio of MFAH has told us: "it’s not as though she [sc. Shelby White] is hiding anything."

Reference
Bothmer, D. von (ed.) 1990. Glories of the past: ancient art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Chi, J., and J. Gaunt. 2005. Greek bronze vessels from the collection of Shelby White & Leon Levy. Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University.

A Bronze Krater in the Levy-White Collection

I can remember how moved I was when I saw the "Vix krater" for the first time. It was displayed in a darkened room at the heart of an exhibition, "Die Hallstattkultur: Frühform europäischer Einheit", in Steyr, Austria (1980). Such complete archaic bronze kraters are few and far between (though the cast attachments from others have survived).

Winifred Lamb, in Greek and Roman Bronzes (1929), had a section on archaic "Bronze Vases" and noted:

The surviving bronze vases are few, but those of which the provenance is known still fewer. Fewest of all are the vases which can, like pottery, be associated with excavation (p. 133).

She also noted,

An even more magnificent crater ... was discovered, during the last months of the war [sc. 1918], in a cemetery north of Lake Ochrida (p. 135).

The find-spot was Trebenishte (in the present Republic of Macedonia, close to the present frontier with Albania).

Such archaic kraters are rare which is why there is so much interest in the one on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Its present proprietor is Shelby White. This appears to be the krater discussed by Conrad M. Stibbe in a review article, "The krater from Vix again" (in his Agalmata: Studien zur griechisch-archaischen Bronzekunst. BABesch. Suppl. Leiden: Peeters, 2006 [Google Books]). In his discussion of the unique nature of the volute-krater from Trebenishte (p. 318), he appends a footnote (p. 321 n. 57):

We have now a second bronze volute krater with the same pattern on its foot. See my forthcoming publication in the volume in memory of Leon Levy.

This newly surfaced krater appears to be important. So it would be helpful to have some answers to the following:

• Does the Shelby White krater have a reported find-spot?
• When was the Shelby White krater acquired? Who sold it?
  
• When did the Shelby White krater first appear?
• Has it passed through the hands of any other collectors?
  

Loans of Archaeological Material

In February 2006 the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) released "New Guidelines on Loans of Antiquities and Ancient Art". There are several points to note.

1.C. AAMD deplores the illicit and unscientific excavation of archaeological materials and ancient art from archaeological sites, the destruction or defacing of ancient monuments, and the theft of works of art from individuals, museums, or other repositories.

I would avoid using the word "excavation" when clearly illicit and unscientific looting is meant.

There are positive things to say about collaboration and transparency:

1.E. AAMD supports the open exchange of information among researchers and institutions as they collaborate on loans, exhibitions and other scholarly projects. Through this process, the most complete, accurate and useful information about works of art becomes available to a broad public.

As a researcher I have been impressed with the generosity of some museum curatorial staff, notably at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the J. Paul Getty Museum.

AAMD makes the case for loans:

1.F. ... Lenders of archaeological material and ancient art provide a valued public service by making their works available to a broader public and to scholars. ... Loans from private collections also provide new opportunities for the public and scholars to study the art of the ancient world, and in particular are an important means of bringing significant works of art into public view where they can contribute to ongoing dialogue and reassessment.

Loans from private collections can be valuable for studying the material culture of the ancient world. But private collections rarely have items from excavated contexts. An example would be the Middle Kingdom blue faience hippopotamus in the George Ortiz collection that comes from an excavated tomb and passed into the Revd William Macgregor collection in return for his support for the archaeological project.

But there are problems with material from private collections: think of the exhibitions of objects from the Shelby White and Leon Levy ("Glories of the Past") and the Barbara and Laurence Fleischman ("A Passion for Antiquities") collections that were explored in detail by Gill and Chippindale in the American Journal of Archaeology (2000).

AAMD then steps into a more difficult area.

1.G. AAMD recognizes that archaeological material and works of ancient art for which provenance information is incomplete or unobtainable may deserve to be publicly displayed, conserved, studied, and published because of their rarity, historical importance, and aesthetic merit. Importantly, in addition to inspiring fresh scholarship, the display of such works in public museums may serve to facilitate the discovery of further information regarding their ownership and provenance history.

So could it be argued that a museum should display an archaeological object which has an incomplete history - I dislike the word provenance which is, in my opinion, imprecise - because it is rare, historically important or beautiful? I would, though, have to accept that the public display of objects from the White-Levy and Fleischman collections has brought to light "further information regarding their ownership and provenance history" - which is why objects from these two private collections have been handed back to Italy.

AAMD then reviews legal considerations and draws attention to the 1970 UNESCO Convention, though there is more to the trade in looted antiquities than items removed from "an official archaeological excavation" (II.B). AAMD also agrees to abide by the 1970 date rather than the 1983 date of ratification. (And the recent returns of antiquities to Italy have shown 1970 to be the marker.)

As part of the process of considering a loan of archaeological material "museums should (emphasis mine) inquire into their provenance history, seeking to obtain all relevant information from the lender, and an appropriate warranty of their legal ownership of the work" (II.C). Is this tight enough? Is it possible to have "legal ownership" of objects which were removed illegally from their country of origin after the 1970 UNESCO Convention? The return of antiquities to Italy has shown that objects purchased "legally" from dealers in Basel, London and New York do not have a secure history (or "provenance").

AAMD recommends a due diligence process. Has the piece been published? Has it been exhibited? Are there any rival claims to ownership? Does it appear in any database of stolen items? But bear in mind items looted from archaeological sites (and not previously known) do not tend to be registered in such databases.

There is then discussion of loan exhibitions and the preparation of "a list of the ownership histories of the works in the exhibition". Are these public documents to accompany a public exhibition? Are they available on request (in the spirit of 1.F)? And what if a loan appears in an exhibition but is not featured in the catalogue?

The AAMD report then addresses "Incomplete Information on Relevant Ownership / Provenance History". Display is considered acceptable if it "may best serve the interests of the object, the culture it represents and the public". Long-term loans "with incomplete relevant provenance histories should be evaluated under criteria comparable to those for acquisitions".

The purpose of this AAMD report was the "emphasize the need for openness, transparency and due diligence in research on and negotiation for loans".

Shelby White: Waiting for the Press Release, Week 3

For some reason Shelby White does not yet appear to have issued a list of the antiquities handed over to the Italian authorities some three weeks ago.

Is there some good reason for restricting access to this information?

I am not the only one waiting. A contact from Italy reminded me of the lists that were available at the time of the 2004 trial of Giacomo Medici. I am informed that these lists were divided into separate collections and indicated (in Italian),

The above artifacts are reproduced in photographs seized from Giacomo Medici at the Geneva Freeport.

A selection of lists ("Dossier") appeared in the back of Peter Watson and Celia Todeschini, The Medici Conspiracy (2006). I used the Medici Conspiracy's "Dossier" ("Antiquities in the Levy-White Collection Shown in the Polaroids Seized in Corridor 17 in Geneva") to compile a possible list (including the three certain items the New York Times had included).

But the "Medici Trial" list appears to be slightly different. A possible reason is that The Medici Conspiracy was based on the list compiled by Maurizio Pellegrini from his study of the Geneva Polaroids (see chapter 6: "The Paper Trail, The Polaroids, and The 'Cordata'").

In the "Medici Trial" list and known to be on the list of returns according to the New York Times:
i. An Attic red-figured calyx-krater. A: Zeus and Ganymede. B: Herakles and Iolaos. Attributed to the Eucharides painter. Glories of the Past no. 117.

In the "Medici Trial" list; status not yet declared (and also in the Medici Conspiracy "Dossier"):
ii. Bronze statue of naked youth. Glories of the Past no. 87.
iii. Chalcidian neck-amphora. Attributed to the painter of the Cambridge Hydria Cavalcade. Glories of the Past no. 102.
iv. Attic black-figured neck-amphora of Panathenaic shape. Attributed to the painter of Louvre F 6. Glories of the Past no. 104.
v. Attic black-figured neck-amphora. Attributed to the Bucci painter (by J. Robert Guy). Glories of the Past no. 106.
vi. Attic black-figured neck-amphora. Attributed to a painter of the Medea group. Glories of the Past no. 107.
vii-viii. Two Caeretan hydriae. One showing a panther and lioness; the other showing Odysseus and Polyphemos' cave.

That makes eight items.

And the New York Times identified two more certain returns:
ix. An Attic red-figured calyx-krater. Herakles slaying Kyknos. Euphronios.
x. A fragment of Roman fresco. Glories of the Past no. 142. [See possible reconstruction]

And that makes ten.

But they need not be the ten being returned to Italy.

Indeed, there may be a totally innocent reason why eight of these pieces appeared in the Geneva Polaroids.

So why is Shelby White holding back on this information? Is there something to hide? Who supplied these ten pieces? Will she disclose their full histories?

Robin Symes and the Met

The death of Christo Michailidis on July 4, 1999, during a dinner party hosted by Leon Levy and Shelby White is well documented (see Peter Watson, "The Fall of Robin Symes", Culture Without Context, 15, Autumn 2004).

The following year Symes presented the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with a terracotta in memory of Michailidis. The on-line catalogue entry does not provide information about the figure's previous owners or where it was found.

Image
Statuette of a Draped Goddess, late 5th–4th century B.C. Greek Terracotta; H. 14 3/4 in. (37.5 cm) Gift of Robin Symes, in memory of Christo Michailidis, 2000 (2000.163) www.metmuseum.org