From Geneva to Antalya: Roman sarcophagus

The Turkish press is reporting that a Roman marble sarcophagus decorated with scenes showing Hercules is likely to be returned to Turkey ("Stolen sarcophagus might return to Turkey", Hurriyet November 9, 2013). It appears that it was found at Perge. The sarcophagus had then passed into the hands of Phoenix Ancient Art in Geneva.

After the examination in Perge, the Swiss prosecutor met with A.Ç., who is imprisoned in Elmalı prison on a separate smuggling charge and is suspected of smuggling the artifact out of Perge. In discussions with the Swiss prosecutor, A.Ç allegedly confirmed that the artifact had been smuggled. 

International legal proceedings began with the aim of repatriating the sarcophagus to Antalya. The case is being closely followed by the Antalya Public Prosecution Office as well as the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry and Foreign Ministry. 

According to Turkish officials, legal action against the Phoenix Ancient Art Gallery will be completed by the end of the year, facilitating the return of the sarcophagus to Antalya.

I presume that this is the same sarcophagus noted here in March 2012.

If the sarcophagus is returned to Turkey it will increase the pressure on the Cleveland Museum of Art and the St Louis Art Museum to clarify the collecting histories for the Leutwitz Apollo (CMA) and the Egyptian mummy mask (SLAM).

Cleveland and Phoenix Ancient Art

Last month I raised a question about Michael Bennett's claim (in 2008) that he had a long-standing link with the Aboutaams.

The Cleveland Museum of Art does not appear to publish full collecting histories for its objects either on the web or via its print catalogues. Will CMA now issue a list of all the objects that have been acquired from Phoenix Ancient Art along with their complete collecting histories?

This will demonstrate two things: rigorous due diligence and transparency.

Creating Stories?

One of the points that was made at the ARCA symposium at the V&A yesterday related to the fabrication of collecting histories, sometimes by forging supporting documentation. Richard Ellis suggested that the due diligence process should leave no stone unturned.

As I sat in the audience I kept thinking about the reported collecting history for the Leutwitz Apollo acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art. How much of it can be authenticated? How far has the museum explored discrepancies?

It is a good story as it is presented. Garden sculpture. Communist attack. Burial in the rubble of the house. Sale to a Dutch dealer.

Does the curatorial team at Cleveland believe it?

Art Forgery and Provenance

I attended the ARCA (Association for Research into Crimes against Art) Art Crime Symposium at the V&A in London today. There were two sessions:

• a. Art Recovery and Reward: Det Sgt Claire Hutcheon (Metropolitan Police), Charlie Hill, Richard Ellis, Jonathan Jones.
• b. Art Forgery and Provenance: Vernon Rapley, Christopher Marsden, Christos Tsirogiannis, Noah Charney.

I tweeted some of the themes here.

I was very struck by Jonathan Jones' point that art can be displayed in its original context (e.g. a church) rather than the sanitised environment of a museum. (It reminded me of the Houghton Hall exhibition --- and interestingly Peter Watson alluded to the exhibition during the discussion.)

During the discussion, Richard Ellis reminded us that due diligence meant that we needed to ensure that we left no stone unturned as we researched past collecting histories.

Vernon Rapley kept coming back to the Amarna Princess as well as other pieces from the same forger. He reminded us of little clues that would send curators down carefully laid false trails. Christopher Marsden (Senior Archivist at the V&A) reminded us of the forging of documentation to support "provenance".

Christos Tsirogiannis (U Cambridge) discussed a range of forged paperwork and collecting histories drawing on examples from the Medici Dossier, as well as the Sarpedon krater that had been acquired by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. He explored the background to the Getty kouros.

Jonathan Rosen and the Met: the Etruscan dimension

Cornell's controversial acquisition of cuneiform tablets from (or via) Jonathan Rosen raises issues for other collections.

Here are some of the Etruscan donations acquired by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art:

1. 1991.171.2. Lunate razor of sharply curved form. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.19]
2. 1991.171.3. Sanguisuga-type fibula. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.8]
3. 1991.171.4. Sanguisuga-type fibula. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.9a]
4. 1991.171.8. Navicella-type fibula. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.7c]
5. 1991.171.16. Dragon-type fibula. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.4b]
6. 1991.171.17. Dragon-type fibula. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.4a]
7. 1991.171.18. Dragon-type fibula. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.4c]
8. 1991.171.29. Bow fibula. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.6]
9. 1991.171.44. Antefix fragment with gorgon head. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [4.123b]
10. 1991.171.50. Samnite belt. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [5.28]
11. 1991.171.51. Bracelet. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.12a]
12. 1991.171.52. Bracelet. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.12b]
13. 1991.171.53-55. Pendants in the form of paired human couples. Gift of Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [3.13]
14. 1992.11.3, 4, 10, 14a, 14b, 17, 18a-c, 19, 20, 21, 51, 52, 54, 55. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76]
15. 1992.11.11. Pendant. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.54].
16. 1992.11.13. Pendant of animal. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.55b].
17. 1992.11.16. Pendant of animal. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.55c].
18. 1992.11.22. Pendant. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.57].
19. 1992.11.23. Pendant. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.56].
20. 1992.11.24-27. Four pendants. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.49].
21. 1992.11.28. Pendant of human head. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.53d]
22. 1992.11.29a-n. Group of fourteen quails. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts. [7.60].
23. 1992.11.42a-q. Group of cowrie-shaped beads. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts[7.59].
24. 1992.11.48. Series of twenty-five squares. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.62]
25. 1992.11.50. Necklace with monkey pendant. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7. 58a]
26. 1992.11.57. Group of bulla-shaped pendants. Including The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts [7.61]
27. 1992.267.2. Pendant. Gift of Mr and Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen. [7.50]

What are the full collecting histories of all these pieces? When did they leave Italy?

Cornell and so-called unprovenanced tablets

In 2009 I reviewed James Cuno's edited volume Whose culture? for the Journal of Art Crime (pp. 99-100). This 'partial and partisan' book (as I described the book) contained an essay, "Censoring knowledge: the case for the publication of unprovenanced cuneiform tablets", by David I. Owen, the Bernard and Jane Schapiro Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University (pp. 125-42, [pp. 130-42 = endnotes]). Readers of LM will know that I dislike the terms "provenanced" and "unprovenanced": I prefer to use the phrase "collecting histories" (or lack!).

Perhaps David I. Owen can tell the full story of how Cornell acquired all these tablets.

In the meantime we look forward to reading the press release that Cornell has yet to issue.

Cornell to return cuneiform tablets to Iraq

Jason Felch is reporting that Cornell University will be returning some 10,000 cuneiform tablets to Iraq (Chasing Aphrodite, November 3, 2013). They were donated or placed on loan to Cornell by Jonathan Rosen, a former partner with Robert Hecht. Rosen was also one of the figures behind Athena Fund II.

These tablets should not be seen in isolation. Objects donated by Rosen (or that have passed through Atlantis Antiquities) to the Cleveland Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum and Princeton University Art Museum have been returned to Italy.