Recovered Treasures

UNESCO has mounted a small exhibition of "Recovered Treasures" in Paris (June-July 2012). A short description is provided:

Source: MiBAC

31 stolen and recovered original works of art from the IVth century B.C. to the XVIIth century will be exhibited including several archaeological vases, two portions of a fresco, a painting by Guercino, another by Ludovico Carracci, a precious XIIth century ivory cross, several pages of illuminated manuscripts, one of the first letters by Christopher Columbus printed in Latin, two XVth century panel paintings by Bernardino Fungai.

Among the items on display is the Asteas krater returned from the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Princeton Returns: a discussion

Source: MiBAC

I received the latest volume of the Journal of Art Crime today. It includes my regular column, "Context Matters". For this number I decided to break with my previous custom and write a longer piece on the recent return of antiquities from Princeton to Italy. I include a list of the returned pieces as well as a discussion of the need for transparency.

The discussion piece also notes some of the other North American museums that have acquired material once owned by Edoardo Almagià, including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Tampa Museum of Art, and Boston's Museum of Fine Art.

I conclude with the question: "How can Princeton proceed and seek to restore its patinated reputation?"

Reference

Gill, D. W. J. 2012. "Context matters: Princeton and recently surfaced antiquities." Journal of Art Crime 7: 59-66.

Toledo: first stage over?

Etruscan hydria

The news that the Etruscan hydria would be returned from the Toledo Museum of Art hardly comes as a surprise. In March 2006, Vanity Fair ("The Getty's Blue Period") noted:

True was indicted last April by Paolo Ferri, a tenacious Italian prosecutor who had been working on the case for many years. The primary evidence was Polaroid photos of thousands of allegedly looted antiquities, some still covered in dirt, which had been discovered in a Swiss warehouse belonging to Giacomo Medici, a Maserati-driving Italian dealer. While True is the only major museum curator to have been indicted by Ferri, the Getty is not the only U.S. museum to own objects that appear in the photographs. So do New York's Metropolitan Museum, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Toledo Museum of Art, and the Princeton University Art Museum, according to Italian court records.

As well the J. Paul Getty Museum, each of the museums noted in the article have returned objects to Italy. Boston led the way in a prompt and dignified manner, although museums such as Minneapolis and Toledo have rather let the affair drag out.

Toledo and implications for other collections

Etruscan hydria
due to be returned to Italy

The agreed return of the Etruscan hydria from the Toledo Museum of Art to Italy raises other issues. The statement from the US Attorney's Office ("Agreement Paves Way For Artifact's Return To Italy", 20 June 2012) includes this highly significant section:

Following a January 2010 lead from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigation’s (ICE HSI) Rome attaché, Cleveland-based HSI special agents launched an investigation into the true provenance of the artifact. Working closely with law enforcement officials in Italy, HSI agents were able to definitively establish that the documentation provided to the Toledo Museum of Art was falsified and part of a larger scheme by the Becchinas to sell illegitimately obtained cultural property.

This suggests that the collecting history (please can we stop using the misleading term provenance?) for the Etruscan hydria had been "falsified".

So is the falsification of the documentation of the hydria a single example or a one off? It is a theme I have explored before (and I cited two examples linked to Palladion Antike Kunst run by Rosie Becchina). It is relevant to a Roman janiform head recently returned to Italy.

But what about other material? What about the pair of statues, Castor and Pollux, on loan to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art? What is their association with Becchina?

And what about the Minoan larnax and the archaic pithos in the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Art at Emory University? What does the Becchina archive tell us?

But it is not just North American museums that should be worried. The suspicion also turns to the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, and the Miho Museum in Japan.

Toledo to return Etruscan hydria

Etruscan hydria due to be returned to Italy

The presence of an Etruscan hydria in Toledo has been controversial for some time (see here). It has now been  announced that the Toledo Museum of Art will be returning the pot to Italy. It had been acquired from Gianfranco and Ursula Becchina in 1982. It is suggested that it is valued at $665,000. The pot is attributed to the Michali painter.

A full story in the Toledo Blade can be found here. What is so surprising is that it has taken the museum so long to decide to return the piece.

I am grateful to Fabio Isman for drawing my attention to the story.

Freedom of Information and Coins

In 2009 I noted the filing of papers by Scott A. Hodes on behalf of "non-profit numismatic groups". This was followed by the turning down of the request. Last week I observed the ruling that there had indeed been no "cover up" by the US State Department.

Hodes has now issued a statement about the appeal. But he has also been less than transparent. He refers to comments made by an "ancient coin collector" without noting that this same "collector" is in fact a paid Washington lobbyist for the three numismatic organisations who appear to have fronted the FOIA request.

It is also interesting that the IAPN and the PNG continue to be silent on the FOIA request made in their names.

No cover up: coin conspiracy theory falls

I note that the Courthouse News service is reporting that there was no concealment of evidence as alleged by the IAPN, the PNG and the ACCG. This must come as a blow to the paid Washington lobbyist who has argued for a cover-up. This will hopefully bring an end to the shameful attack on the late Dr Danielle Parks whose emails have been the subject of interest by the request made by the three organizations. | |