Attack at the Hellenic Ministry of Culture

The BBC has reported today that police guarding the Hellenic Ministry of Culture in Athens have come under attack by two men firing Kalashnikov automatic weapons ("Gunmen shoot policeman in Athens", Monday January 5, 2009). One officer has been injured and has undergone surgery.

New acquisition policy for the Metropolitan Museum of Art

It seems that Lord Renfrew's 2009 SAFE lecture has prompted a response from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. SAFE has released the news that the MMA will be accepting the AAMD's guidelines; Elyse Topalian, Vice President for Communications at the MMA sent an email to SAFE on January 2 stating that:

in June 2008 the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art accepted the Association of Art Museum Directors's June 4, 2008 Guidelines on the Acquisition of Archaeological Materials and Ancient Art, and on November 12, 2008, the Board of Trustees adopted a revised Collections Management Policy incorporating those guidelines.

SAFE has posted details of the new MMA policy. This includes the statement:

The Museum normally shall not acquire a work unless provenance research substantiates that the work was outside its country of probable modern discovery before 1970 or was legally exported from its probable country of modern discovery after 1970.

Lee Rosenbaum had indicated that such an announcement would be forthcoming back in June 2008.

This is a major step forward and addresses earlier concerns.

The Amarna Princess on the Antiques Rogues Show

The BBC will be showing a drama, "The Antiques Rogues Show", based on the forgers behind the Amarna Princess and the Risley Park Lanx (amongst other items).

The summary of the programme:

A compelling drama documentary about one of the world's prolific and most diverse art forgers. The Greenhalgh family lived by modest means on a council estate in Bolton but, tucked away in the garden shed, Shaun Greenhalgh was creating fake paintings, antiques and sculptures that would dupe the art world out of hundreds of thousands of pounds. He was aided by his octogenarian parents, George and Olive (played by Peter Vaughan and Liz Smith), who concocted elaborate back stories for each forgery. Their trump card came with a fake Egyptian statue, supposedly passed down from George's grandfather, which they sold to Bolton Museum for nearly half a million pounds. Despite the windfall the family continued to live a frugal lifestyle, revelling instead in the satisfaction derived at deceiving the art experts.

This will appear on the BBC's iPlayer once it has been broadcast.

Australian Antiquities Dealer Arrested In Egypt

A 61-year old Australian antiquities dealer "has been arrested in Egypt for allegedly trying to smuggle two 2300-year-old animal mummies and religious figurines out of the country" (Selma Milovanovic "Antiques dealer faces 15 years in an Egyptian jail", Sydney Morning Herald December 26, 2008).

According to local reports, when security officials opened the suspect suitcase, they allegedly found mummies of a cat and an ibis, both dating back to 300BC. They also allegedly found 19 figurines of the ancient Egyptian gods of Horus and Thoth, wrapped as gifts.

The individual was due to take a flight to Thailand.

The Herald Sun (Australia) reported (January 1, 2009):

A MELBOURNE man arrested in Egypt after allegedly trying to smuggle animal mummies out of the country has been released on bail. Frank Bottaro, 61, a successful Armadale antiquities dealer, will likely have to stay in the country until he appears in court.

See also:

• "Hawass: Linen bandages seized in Cairo Airport used in mummification", Egypt State Information Servce December 25 2008.
  
• Aaron Langmaid, "Accused mummy smuggler Frank Bottaro an antiquities dealer", Herald Sun December 26 2008.

The Market in Antiquities from Iraq

Neil Brodie, Director of The Cultural Heritage Resource of the Stanford Archaeology Center, has issued a draft of "The market in Iraqi antiquities 1980-2008" (pdf). There is much information about the surfacing of material from the region.

He makes a distinction between public auctions of material from Iraq (which have virtually ceased) and internet sales. He presents striking information about the number of cylinder seals and cuneiform tablets available for sale via the internet on single days in December 2006 and September 2008 (78 and 147 respecitvely for 2006; 142 and 332 for 2008). Some of the pieces seem to have been removed by the use of circular saws.

Brodie continues to use "provenance" as a term; see my comments on the use of "provenience" as well as the confusion about the use of the term "provenance". There is a distinction between the history of the piece (who handled it) and its archaeology (where it was found).

Renfrew on 1970 as a Benchmark

Lord Renfrew will be giving the 2009 SAFE Beacon Award Lecture, "Combating the Illicit Antiquities Trade: the 1970 Rule as a Turning Point (or How the Metropolitan Museum lags behind the Getty)". Mike Boehm has commented on the forthcoming lecture in "Getty's antiquities policy gets kudos vs. the Met" (LA Times blog January 1 2009).

Renfrew has already criticised James Cuno for not accepting 1970 as a key date. (For wider reactions to James Cuno's views see here.)

But times are changing and key bodies are choosing the earlier date. The American Association of Museums (AAM) encourages the use of 1970 for the acquisition of antiquities. The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) advocates the use of 1970 for the acquisition of antiquities as does its Object Register.

I have discussed 1970 against the 1983 deadline here; after all, material from North American museums that was returned to Italy was acquired from 1971 onwards. And what happens to disputed material that was acquired before 1970?

Renfrew seems to have New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) in his spotlights. He has no need to go further than the exhibition celebrating the Philippe de Montebello Years. It is also worth reflecting on the collecting histories of the ex-MMA pieces that appeared in the Nostoi exhibitions in Rome and Athens (see also "Orphans and the Berlin painter"), in addition to the Morgantina silver.

Of course there is a marked difference between the MMA and the J. Paul Getty Museum when it comes to the objects that they have returned to Italy. The Getty has embraced transparency and has provided full disclosure (see Gill and Chippindale on the return). Will the MMA follow this important lead?

Looking Ahead to 2009

There is likely to be continuing fallout from the "Medici Conspiracy". Until now the emphasis has been on North American collections (and at least two more institutions have been mentioned in the press) but the focus is likely to turn to Europe (the Ny Carlsberg) and the Far East (the Miho Museum ). A decision about the "Cleveland Apollo" and a Bronze Victory with Cornucopia from the same museum is due this year.

Authorities in Greece also have sets of polaroids identifying material. It is likely that they will initiate further claims. Discussions with the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University are on-going. The New Akropolis Museum will serve as a focus for renewed and stronger calls for the return of the Parthenon sculptures.

The AAMD needs to resolve the issue of long-term loans of archaeological material. And AAMD members should be more transparent about acquisitions and learn to respond to requests for information.

Will the "credit crisis" continue to have an impact on the sale of antiquities? Certainly one London-based auction house needs to improve its due diligence process if it is to avoid the adverse publicity its antiquities department has attracted over the last year.