Further sightings on the London market

Glasgow University researcher Dr Christos Tsirogiannis has identified four items that are due to be auctioned at Christie's King Street (London) on 1 October 2015. I understand that Interpol, the Carabinieri Art Squad and Scotland Yard Art and Antiques Unit have been notified.

Three of the lots come from the Heissmeyer Collection (lots 1-34).

The Heissmeyer collection brings together vases and figural vessels of Greek antiquity from Athens to South Italy, dating from the 8th-4th century B.C. Professor Heissmeyer assembled his collection in affection for the craftsmanship of the ancient potter and painter, considering the vases his 'guests', and as such 'able to move on and delight others'. Prof. Heissmeyer published his collection in two volumes: Vasen und figürliche Gefässe aus der griechischen Antike. Katalog einer süddeutschen Sammlung, Dettelbach, 2008 and Vases and Figure-Shaped Vessels of Greek Antiquity: Catalogue of a Collection in South Germany, Schwäbisch Hall, 2015 (referred to below as 'Vasen, 2008' and 'Vases, 2015').

The pieces are:

Lot 6. Attic head vase.
Estimate: £4000-£6000.
Collecting history:

Private collection, Germany, acquired prior to 1990. with Galerie am Museum Jürgen Haering, Freiburg. Prof. H.-H. Heissmeyer collection, Schwäbisch Hall, acquired from the above in 2005 (inv. no. 32).

Publication: Vasen, 2008, no. 19 and Vases, 2015, p. 67, no. 21.
Although a number for the Beazley Archive is provided (9024860) this does not appear to refer to a specific item.
Tsirogiannis notes that a Polaroid photograph that appears to show this oinochoe features in the Becchina archive. A note shows that it was sent for restoration on 1 December 1989 to Sandro Cimicchi.


Lot 8. Attic black-figured Droop cup
Estimate: £4000-£6000.
Collecting history:

Private collection, Switzerland, acquired prior to 1980. with Galerie am Museum Jürgen Haering, Freiburg. Prof. H.-H. Heissmeyer collection, Schwäbisch Hall, acquired from the above in 1995 (inv. no. 17). 

Publication: Vasen, 2008, no. 3 and Vases, 2015, p. 15, no. 5.
Although a number for the Beazley Archive is provided (9024849) this does not appear to refer to a specific item.
Tsirogiannis notes that the cup appear to feature in the Becchina archive.  A note suggests that this was one of four cups purchased by Raffaele Monticelli on 4 March 1993. Becchina's Polaroid is marked that it was sold to 'Hae[ring]'.

Lot 16. Attic red-figured lekythos, attributed to the Sabouroff painter
Estimate: £7000-£10000
Collecting history:

Private collection, United Kingdom, acquired prior to 1980. with Galerie am Museum Jürgen Haering, Freiburg. Prof. H.-H. Heissmeyer collection, Schwäbisch Hall, acquired from the above in 1992 (inv. no. 23). Beazley Archive no. 21590.

Although a number for the Beazley Archive is provided (21590) this does not appear to refer to a specific item.
Publication: J. H. Oakley, The Achilles Painter, Mainz, 1997, pl. 181C. Vasen, 2008, no. 9 and Vases, 2015, p. 31, no. 10.
Tsirogiannis notes that the lekythos appears in the Becchina archive. A note suggests that the transaction took place in November 1978.


Lot 93. Attic red-figured lekythos attributed to the Nikon painter
Estimate: £25000-£30000
Collecting history:

Anonymous sale; Münzen und Medaillen AG, Basel, 14 November 1986, lot 213. Formerly private collection, Japan, acquired privately in 1997.

Tsirogiannis notes that this lot was confiscated in the Geneva Freeport by the Swiss authorities from Noriyoshi Horiuchi in 2008 (see Operation Andromeda). He also notes that the lekythos has been offered for sale by Phoenix Ancient Art (website) and subsequently sold. [It also features on pinterest.] It is not clear why Christie's have not provided the full collecting history for the lekythos.

It appears that Christie's has not conducted a sufficiently rigorous due diligence process to identify material from the Becchina archive. Will the auction house be withdrawing the lots prior to the sale?

I am grateful to Dr Tsirogiannis for sharing his identifications with me.

Temple of Bel at Palmyra destroyed: confirmation

Satellite imagery supplied by the UN has confirmed the destruction of the Temple of Bel at Palmyra (released via the BBC). There had been suggestions that the destruction had been partial.

"Credible provenance" and the Minoan larnax

Back in September 2008 the Michael C. Carlos Museum spoke about the importance of a "credible provenance" or "history of ownership" in a press statement responding to Greek claims for three items in the museum.

As far as I can see the museum has never presented the authenticated collecting history (sometimes obsoletely termed the "provenance") for the Minoan larnax in its collection.

I have read the documentation on this piece and the photographic evidence from the Becchina archive is compelling.

I am also aware that the positive identification was made by Dr Christos Tsirogiannis.

We know that the "credible" collecting history for this larnax places it in the hands of Gianfranco Becchina. Why has it taken the Michael C. Carlos Museum seven years to ignore this "credible" evidence?

Palmyra: Temple of Bel destroyed

The BBC is now reporting that the Temple of Bel at Palmyra has been partially destroyed ("Syria's Palmyra Temple of Bel 'severely damaged' by IS", BBC News August 31, 2015). This is the latest in a sequence of deliberate destruction of this UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Minoan Larnax in the Michael C. Carlos Museum

I am much enjoying Adam Nicolson's The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters (London: William Collins, 2014). I love the weaving of the literary landscapes and the application of Homer's works to contemporary society. And I am about to move from "Grasping Homer" to "Loving Homer".

The book has a series of "Homeric" (broadly speaking!) colour images: a gold mask from the shaft graves at Mycenae; inlaid Myceanean daggers; representations of the Homeric narratives on Athenian black- and red-figured pottery; a writing tablet from the Ulu Burun shipwreck; the walls of Tiryns; the "Homeric" cup from Ischia; an Egyptian ivory cosmetic container; the Kypselid gold phiale from Olympia.

And I wait to see how this diverse group of objects are woven into Nicolson's narrative.

But I am not writing a review. Readers of LM can always get a copy of the book for themselves. [Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com]

So why am I writing about this book?

One of the colour plates shows "A Cretan bath from the mid-fourteenth century BC, one of the elements of Mediterranean civilisation most greedily adopted by Homeric Greeks".

The credit is "© Carlos Collection of Ancient Art, Emory University".

But wait. Is this the Minoan larnax that was acquired in 2002? Is this the Minoan larnax that appears in the Becchina photographic archive? Is this the Minoan larnax that the Greek authorities asked the Michael C. Carlos Museum to return back in 2007? Is this the larnax that was featured on LM back in 2008? (And see the museum's press release issued back in 2008.)

And we need to remember that part of Becchina's holdings was revealed in a major publicity event in Rome earlier this year. And this has implications for the Michael C. Carlos Museum.

Nicolson's book is a good reminder of why the museum staff at Emory University need to be contacting the Greek authorities as a matter of urgency. This case needs to be resolved not ignored. (See also the professional responsibilities for the museum.)

And of course the fish on the cover of the book (and elsewhere in the volume) rather evoke the fish on the Minoan larnax. So every time that I pick up this book I will be reminded of the larnax. And if readers of LM take up my suggestion, they too will be reminded of the larnax.

The Becchina case continues

Ursula Kampmann has written about the continuing case of Gianfranco Becchina ("The Becchina case – or: a footnote to practical aspects of the return of cultural property", Coins Weekly August 27, 2015 [note that the article has been translated]). She notes that some 1278 objects were left without certain "provenance" --- what is clearly meant (and this is why I do wish that those writing about the market would differentiate between "collecting history" and "findspot") is that it was not possible to ascertain where those 1278 objects had been found. (And just to clarify, I suspect that the seized paperwork will provide some of the information about the "collecting history".)

Kampmann informs her readership that the 1278 objects could be returned to Palladion Antike Kunst for sale. But who would want to buy these objects? Could Greece, Turkey and who knows which other countries bring a claim once the objects have been matched to the paperwork? Buyers would be wise to be very cautious.

But it appears that 40,000 francs are outstanding as part of a court case and this has led to the confiscation of the 1278 objects. (And one can only think that if these items are unsellable, they are also likely to be valueless.)

Kampmann bewails the "incompetence of the authorities". But actually it highlights the network of deals and dealings surrounding this Swiss-based dealer.

Of course those who were buying directly from Becchina will now be very concerned that their actions will be revealed.

Temple of Baal Shamin: satellite images of destruction

Palmyra, February 2014

The BBC has circulated images of the destruction of the temple of Baal Shamin at Palmyra (Jonathan Amos, 'Palmyra: Satellite image of IS destruction', BBC News August 28, 2015). The satellite shots were taken on 25 August 2015 - and there is a comparison shot of 22 May.

The Google Earth image was taken in February 2014, and the temple of Baal Shamin can be seen at the top of the picture.