Looting Matters

Another Bürki object returns to Italy

2026-07-16T11:23:50.492+01:00

Source: MMA

A psykter column-krater attributed to the Troilos painter was deaccessioned by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in June 2026 (1986.11.12; BAPD 15922). The history of the piece was recorded by the MMA:

[By 1982, (perhaps late 1970s), with Sandro Cimicchi, Basel, Switzerland]; [until 1985, with Christoph Leon, Basel, Switzerland]; [1985-86, with Christie’s, London]; acquired in 1986, purchased from Christie’s, London (lot 141).

However, the Manhattan DA added that the krater was 'smuggled out of Italy by Fritz Bürki'. The Christie's sale was on July 16, 1986.

The references on the MMA website omit the publication in the volume of Essays in Honor of Dietrich von Bothmer (2002).

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Two more Bothmer donations returned to Italy

2026-07-15T23:05:16.176+01:00

Cup attributed to near Psiax. Source: MMA.

In February 2026 two fragmentary Attic cups that had been given to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art by Dietrich von Bothmer were deaccessioned pending their return to Italy. Both were donated in 1984, and both had been acquired from Fritz Bürki. One was a bilingual cup attributed to near Psiax (1984.500.1; BAPD 44520) and the other cup was attributed to Epiktetos with a kalos inscription of Hip(p)archos (1984.500.2; BAPD 9055412).

We should note that the MMA has earlier returned a black-figured mastos attributed to Psiax (1975.11.6; BAPD 4525). Bürki was the source of other returns from the MMA including fragments from a Makron cup (1978.11.7a, d), and fragments of the Apulian dinos attributed to the Dinos painter (1984.11.7). He was also the source of some 11 per cent of the fragments in the sample selection of Bothmer fragment collection acquired by the MMA.

The MMA returns 45 more antiquities to Italy

2026-07-10T17:51:16.327+01:00

Source: MMA

The Manhattan DA has announced that 45 objects derived from New York's Metropolitan Museum have been returned to Italy. They include a marble fishplate and two marble dishes said to have been found together that had been handled by Robert Hecht (the fishplate) or Jonathan P. Rosen (the bowls) (inv. 1984.11.6; 1985.401.1–2). Another group of 40 Italic items had been donated by Mr & Mrs Jonathan P. Rosen (inv. 1991.171.2–41). Some of these pieces feature in the catalogue of the Etruscan collection. It should also be recalled that Rosen was the source for some of the pieces of amber that have already been returned to Italy.

Another piece was an Attic red-figured psykter column-krater attributed to the Troilos painter that is said to be have been removed from Italy by Fritz Bürki (inv. 1986.11.12; BAPD 15922).

Other classical items from the MMA are to be handed back to Greece and Türkiye including the terracottas from the Panionion.

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Classical Returns from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art

2026-07-07T22:23:55.404+01:00

Over 900 classical items - and perhaps as many as 1,200 if the Lydian haul material is included - have been deaccessioned from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Over 15 entries from the handbook to the classical collection form part of the returns.

These returns are now discussed in:

Gill, D. W. J. 2026. "Context Matters: Classical Repatriations and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art." Journal of Art Crime 35: 55–93.

The scale of the deaccessions is staggering and does not reflect well on those who made the recommendations to acquire.

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MMA returns terracottas to Türkiye

2026-07-06T16:02:54.551+01:00

Source: MMA

LM has drawn attention to the three terracottas apparently from the Panionion in Türkiye that the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired as a gift from Robert Hecht in 1992. Prior to this they had been handled by George Zakos. All three terracottas were returned to Türkiye in June 2026.

The business relationship between Zakos and Hecht is worth exploring. Will other material derived from this partnership be returning to Türkiye?

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The Carlos: Don't Mention the Donor

2026-07-06T12:55:33.596+01:00

Source: MCCM.
Loan from the Republic of Italy

The Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University has issued a "story" about their acquisition of looted Laconian pottery fragments from Italy ("Thieves, soda cans and an ancient vessel"). There is no mention of the donor in this new report: "the five sherds were photographed in the collection of the individual who donated them to the Carlos". It is more than significant that the donor was the late Dietrich von Bothmer who has been linked to a number of sherds that have had to be returned to Italy. Why does the "story" fail to name one of the most prolific modern collectors of pottery fragments?

Henry Kim, the director of the Carlos, reminds us of the importance of transparency: "It’s a notion based in fear ... which the Carlos staff counteracts through vociferous transparency about their own efforts." Perhaps he needs to reflect a little more on the meaning of obscured transparency.

See Gill, D. W. J., and C. Tsirogiannis. 2024. "Fragmented pots and Dietrich von Bothmer." MAAR 69: 535–94 [online].

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Further returns to Italy from the MMA

2026-04-27T12:48:00.001+01:00

Formerly New York MMA 1991.11.6.1–2.
Source: MMA

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned another batch of Greek and Roman antiquities as a result of investigations by the Manhattan DA into objects handled by Frieda Tchacos, Gianfranco Becchina, and Fritz Bürki [see Manhattan DA press release].

Only one piece is highlighted in the press release, a fragmentary Sicilian terracotta relief:

Two additional adjoining fragments of the votive relief were found in the archaeological excavations of the temple of Demeter Malophoros at Selinunte, Sicily, less than ten miles from Becchina’s hometown. Those fragments remain in the Palermo Museum.

This is linked to the Becchina investigation. The relief had formed part of the Norbert Schimmel collection. One other Schimmel piece is among the repatriated objects, a bronze handle attachment in the form of a mask. Other Schimmel items appeared in earlier returns.

The two Bürki linked pieces were objects presented by Dietrich von Bothmer, an Attic bilingual cup attributed to near Psiax, and a fragmentary cup attributed to Epiktetos.

The Tchacos pieces include a pair of spherical Greek gold earrings, a pair of Roman silver cups —one carries a weight inscription for the pair — and an inscribed lid of a Roman cinerarium (Sextus Flavius Pencarpus). There is also a forged Roman funerary inscription.

These latest returns have implications for other material. A batch of material from Selinunte is discussed in my Artwashing the Past (2025) [chapter 11]. The Tchacos investigation will lead to the numerous fragments acquired by other museums (as well as the nearly 300 fragments in the Bothmer collection: and these are just the ones identified in the sample).

I am grateful to Jason Felch for drawing my attention to one of the Schimmel pieces.

A Roman Portrait to be Returned to Italy from New Zealand

2026-04-17T18:33:00.006+01:00

A Roman marble portrait dating to the Antonine period will be returned to Italy [press release]. The female head was acquired by the Classics Museum at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand in 2003. It is reported that the portrait was purchased "from a London dealer who is a regular supplier of antiquities to the University’s Classics museum". The dealer has not been named but the Classics Museum will need to undertake a due diligence search on the other objects derived from this source.

Postscript. It now appears that the head was purchased from Charles Ede Ltd. The portrait was said to come from a 19th century collection.

Deuling, J. K. (2004), ‘Classics Museum Victoria University of Wellington: in the museum’, Scholia: Studies in Classical Antiquity 13 (1): 169–74. [Online]

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Denver Art Museum Returns Roman Portrait to Türkiye

2026-04-16T11:51:00.000+01:00

Source: Denver Art Museum

A fifth century CE Roman portrait excavated in the agora at Izmir in the early 1930s has been returned to Türkiye. The Denver Art Museum acquired the portrait as a bequest from Marie Therese Macy in 2005.

The museum has given a little more information about the 2005 bequest:

While some details of the marble head’s journey from the agora to the Denver Art Museum remain unknown, we do know the head was gifted to the DAM in 2005 by the wife of a former foreign service officer who served as Consul General in Istanbul in the 1940s. Upon the discovery of new information, the DAM confirmed with Turkish officials that the head was considered missing, and after further research and communication, the marble head was removed from the DAM’s collection and repatriated to its country of origin.

The museum provides a slightly inaccurate picture. The statement states "The head had been excavated sometime in the 1930s– ’40s". However it appeared in Türk Arkeoloji Dergisi for 1934 and then in the Istanbuler Forschungen for 1950.

The head is catalogued in J. Inan and E. Rosenbaum, Roman and Early Byzantine portrait sculpture (London: British Academy, 1966), 120, pl. clxxx, 1–2, no. 134. The entry notes, 'The portrait seems to be lost. An extensive search in the Izmir Museum had negative results'.

Izmir Archaeological Museum

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CPAC and the Keros Haul

2026-02-25T17:37:00.000+00:00

CPAC March 2026

The meeting of CPAC in March will be discussing the proposed extension of the cultural property agreement with Greece. The webpage is illustrated with an image of a Cycladic figure currently on long-term loan to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the Leonard N. Stern collection. The figure appears in the catalogue of the Keros Haul (no. 170). Is the use of a figure apparently derived from (or associated with) a notorious example of looting in the Cyclades really the best choice of image? What about other figures from the Haul that reside in other North American collections?

Members of CPAC may find it helpful to read about the Stern collection:

Gill, D. W. J. 2025. "Artwashing the Cyclades: The Leonard N. Stern Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." BMCR.
Tsirogiannis, C., D. W. J. Gill, and C. Chippindale. 2025. "A Corrupt Cycladic Corpus of Marble Figures." Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies 13: 203–33.
Gill, D. W. J., and C. Tsirogiannis. 2025. "The Stern Collection of Cycladic Figures and the Metropolitan Museum of Art." MeditArch 38: 1–24.

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Towards a Corpus of Cycladic Figures

2026-02-11T12:51:00.001+00:00

One of the ideas said to have come out of the Cycladic workshop at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is the creation of an online corpus of Cycladic figures. The organisers of the workshop may not have been aware of these studies:

Tsirogiannis, C., D. W. J. Gill, and C. Chippindale. 2022. "The Forger’s Tale: An insider’s account of corrupting the corpus of Cycladic figures." International Journal of Cultural Property 29: 369–85. [CUP]
—. 2025. "A Corrupt Cycladic Corpus of Marble Figures." Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies 13: 203–33.[DOI]

We discuss the Future of the Cycladic Corpus with the following sub-divisions: An Archaeologists' Corpus; A Connoisseurs' Corpus; An Unresolved Corpus; and An Outcast Corpus. The Leonard Stern collection even has its own section: 'Learning from a recently formed private collection'. My BMCR review of the Stern collection also has a section on 'A Potentially Corrupted Corpus'.

We hope that those who have an interest in the importance of the archaeological context for these figures will be allowed to steer the project and (perhaps even more importantly) will assess whether or not it is a project worth pursuing.

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Drawing attention to "provenance" at the Met

2026-02-05T18:35:00.002+00:00

Courtesy of Christos Tsirogiannis

One of largest group of repatriated material from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art was dervied from Palladion Antike Kunst and from Mr & Mrs Gianfranco Becchina.

The items include:

Attic bf lekythos, attributed to the manner of Elbows Out. Inv. 1985.11.3 [Until 1985, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1985, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 16461.
Attic bf mastos, attributed to Psiax. Inv. 1975.11.6 [Until 1975, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1975, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 4525; Mertens 1979, 23 n. 13, pl. 9.1–4; Mertens 2010, 28–29, fig. 14.
Attic bf amphora fragment, attributed to Lydos. Inv. 1985.11.1. [Until 1985, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1985, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 14695; Bothmer 1985, 40–41, 56, fig. 25, n. 48.
Attic bf amphora fragment, attributed to the Amasis painter. Inv. 1985.11.2. [Until 1985, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1985, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 14683; Bothmer 1985, 34, 108, no. 17.
Attic bf amphora fragment, attributed to the Amasis painter. Inv. 1985.53. [Until 1985, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; 1985, acquired by Dietrich von Bothmer, purchased from Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion; acquired in 1985, gift of Dietrich von Bothmer. This artwork was restituted in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 14680; Bothmer 1985, 76, no. 2bis.
Attic wg cup, attributed to the Villa Giulia painter. Inv. 1979.11.15. [Until 1979, with Galerie Antike Kunst Palladion, Basel, Switzerland]; acquired in 1979, purchased from the Galerie Palladion. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022. Bibl. BAPD 5330; Bothmer and Mertens 1979/80, 14–15; Mertens 1987, 59, no. 41; Picón, C.A. et al. 2007, 118, 430, no. 129; Connelly 2007, 111–12, fig. 4.19, pl. 8.
Pair of gold Apulian cylinders. Inv. 1981.134.1, .2 [Until 1981, with Gianfranco Becchina]; acquired in 1981, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gianfranco Becchina. Deaccessioned for return to Italy in September 2022.

You would think that it would make the curatorial staff at the MMA sensitive to any other material with this association. Thus, it came as a bit of a surprise that the example used in the Cycladic symposium today to show how "provenance" is displayed on the MMA website used the Cycladic figure that Christos Tsirogiannis identified from the Becchina archive. And the slide used quoted the "public" statement of previous history:

[By 1981, collection of Noroyoshi Horiuchi, Tokyo]; [until 1983, with Ariadne Galleries, New York]; 1983, acquired by Leonard Stern, purchased from Ariadne Galleries, New York; 1983-2022, collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Stern, New York; 2022, transferred to Greece; 2024-2034, on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Hellenic Republic.

The mention of the Becchina association was left unmentioned in the presentation even though that particular individual has been associated with objects handled by Horiuchi.

This does not feel like a rigorous engagement with the origins of the Stern collection.

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A Cycladic(ising) Journey

2026-02-05T12:45:00.002+00:00

In September 2025 New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art returned a number of items, including Cycladic, to Greece. The EC collared jar (inv. 2004.342.1) was significant enough to include in S. Hemingway, "Art of the Aegean Bronze Age." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 69 (2012), 21, fig. 34, and it is a reminder that as recently as 2004 the museum had been receiving suspect Cycladic material.

The controversial long-term loan of the Stern collection of Cycladicising material will be celebrated today by a symposium, "Journey to the Cyclades: Exploring the Early Cycladic Culture of Greece". Hemingway is due to be speaking about cultural patrimony. One hopes that the Director, Max Hollein, will talk about the reason why the Met has had to return so many hundreds of Etruscan, Greek and Roman antiquities to the countries where they were found.

It is disappointing to see that issues relating to context and authenticity are not addressed as explicit topics by specific speakers. Will the issue of the figure that appears in the Becchina photographic archive be rehearsed? And will the Greek position on figure fragments derived from the Keros Haul [not a "Hoard"] be made clear?

For further discussion of the Stern collection see:

Gill, D. W. J. 2025. "Artwashing the Cyclades: The Leonard N. Stern Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." BMCR.

—. 2025. "Leonard Stern Collection of Cycladic Antiquities". Museum of Looted Art.

—. and C. Tsirogiannis. 2025. "The Stern Collection of Cycladic Figures and the Metropolitan Museum of Art." MeditArch 38: 1–24.

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Authenticity and Cycladic figures

2026-01-10T15:08:00.000+00:00

I understand that in February there will be a closed conference to explore the Stern collection of Cycladicising objects currently on loan to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of the key issues that needs to be explored relates to the authenticity of the figures. Are some of them modern creations? Are some recreated from genuine figures? Are some the work of well-known forgers of Cycladic figures? Will it be possible to identify the works of forgers in other collections, perhaps including the Met?

Will delegates of the conference restate the importance of archaeological context in determining authenticity? Or will there be an exploration of "the land of parallel" where similar figures may not have secure contexts?

What will be the lasting academic contribution of this conference to the Early Cycladic period?

For further reading:

Tsirogiannis, C., D. W. J. Gill, and C. Chippindale. 2022. "The Forger’s Tale: An insider’s account of corrupting the corpus of Cycladic figures." International Journal of Cultural Property 29: 369–85. [Online]

Tsirogiannis, C., D. W. J. Gill, and C. Chippindale. 2025. "A Corrupt Cycladic Corpus of Marble Figures." Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies 13: 203–33. [Online]

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Looking Ahead: 2026

2026-01-01T15:34:00.001+00:00

Welcome to 2026. What lies ahead in terms of cultural property?

I note that over 2,000 objects from North American museums, private collections, and galleries have been returned to Italy. Yet I am aware of a number of single and group items that can be identified from the Becchina, Medici and Symes archives that have yet to be returned. This includes objects in museums that have so far not returned anything.

It would be helpful if museums were to be more transparent over their repatriated material. Should there be consistency in providing information about previous owners? How do they flag up what has been returned? Are digital records amended when items have been returned? Some museums have been extremely co-operative and have responded to queries, while others ignore requests for information. (And I know from colleagues that I am not alone in not receiving a response.)

Those who have been following my recent publications will know that I have looking at examples of "The Fragment Scheme" relating to Attic and South Italian pottery. These fragments include single items among the returns, the giving and selling of joining fragments, and batches of material. In December I came across yet another large batch of material derived from Italian contexts and split between two nominal "collectors" (but probably those who paid for the acquisition).

2025 was a year in which I returned to the theme of Cycladic figures with a review article on the Stern collection as well as an analysis (with Christos Tsirogiannis) of the material that forms the loan at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition three of us published an extended essay on the corrupt corpus of Cycladic figures. We await with interest the outcomes from the Cycladic conference at the MMA that will no doubt seek to address issues relating to authenticity, context, and attributions. The conference organisers will no doubt have put together a balanced panel of speakers who will be able to highlight the intellectual value of the Stern collection of Cycladicising objects.

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A head of Hermes from a genuinely old Italian collection

2025-12-15T16:05:00.000+00:00

Source: San Antonio Museum of Art

Among the deaccessioned items from the San Antonio Museum of Art in January 2022 was a marble head of Hermes. The head was excavated on the Caelian Hill in Rome between 1887 and 1891: it was first published in 1894.

It is reported to have been sold to Gilbert Denman in 1971 by Alfredo Turchi (Rome) and subsequently given to the museum in 1986 (inv. 86.134.145).

Carlos A. Picón published images of the head, "which entered the newly established Department of Antiquities at the San Antonio Museum of Art in 1986", in 1995. In a footnote he claimed that it was unpublished.

The head was identified by Jörg Deterling in 2016 who recognised it from the original Italian publications.

Picón, C. A. 1995. "Polykleitan and related sculptures in American collections: recent acquisitions." In Polykleitos, the Doryphoros, and tradition, edited by W. G. Moon: 229–45. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

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Further returns to Italy from the San Antonio Museum of Art

2025-12-15T14:35:00.004+00:00

Source: San Antonio Museum of Art

In addition to the objects deaccessioned by the San Antonio Museum of Art in September 2025, the museum had done the same for another group in January 2022. These were mentioned (without significant detail) in a press release from the Manhattan DA in 2023. These items included material that surfaced through various sources:

Christie's (Geneva)

Attic red-figured lekythos. Inv. 86.134.75. Surfaced through Christie’s (Geneva) May 1979; Sotheby’s (London) May 1982.

Christie's (London)

Attic white ground lekythos. Inv. 86.134.170. Surfaced through Christie’s (London) July 1983; July 1985.

Frederick Schultz

Attic red-figured head kantharos. Inv. 91.24. Surfaced through Frederick Schultz, 1989.

Galerie Günter Puhze

Attic black-figured lekythos. Inv. 91.80.1. Galerie Günter Puhze, 1989.

Palladion Antike Kunst

Attic black-figured amphora. Inv. 86.134.31. Surfaced through Palladion Antike Kunst; Sotheby’s (London) December 1981.

Attic red-figured oinochoe. Inv. 86.134.58. Surfaced through Palladion Antike Kunst; Robert Hecht.

Robin Symes

Portrait of Hadrian. Inv. 2005.1.81. Robin Symes; Royal-Athena Galleries; Sotheby’s (New York) June 1992. [Image identified in the Medici Dossier.]

"Dating to 200 C.E., the marble head of the Emperor Hadrian was first documented uncleaned and covered in marine encrustations in a polaroid photograph. The polaroid was recovered by Italian law-enforcement authorities during a raid of the office and warehouse of well-known antiquities trafficker Giacomo Medici in 1995. After being smuggled out of Italy by Medici and his co-conspirators, the piece was then laundered with false provenance by dealer-trafficker Robin Symes before being sold in New York County in 1992." (Manhattan DA)

Sotheby's (London)

Corinthian olpe. Inv. 93.17. Surfaced in Sotheby’s (London) July 1990; Charles Ede.

Attic black-figured amphora. Inv. 86.134.173. Surfaced in Sotheby’s (London) July 1985.

Attic red-figured lekythos. Inv. 86.134.79. Surfaced through Sotheby’s (London) May 1982.

Alfredo Turchi

Head of Hermes. Inv. 86.134.145. Sold by Alfredo Turchi.

The head of Hermes was excavated in Rome in the 19th century.

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Returns to Italy from the San Antonio Museum of Art

2025-12-13T17:23:00.001+00:00

Source: San Antonio Museum of Art

A series of deaccessions has been made in September 2025 by the San Antonio Museum of Art. They consist of mostly South Italian pots and one Etruscan terracotta:

South Italian oinochoe (inv. 97.8). Sold by Peter Sharrer.
Gnathian hydria (inv. 86.119.3.a–b). Surfaced at Sotheby's (London) December 1982; sold by Atlantis Antiquities.
Two Apulian epichyses (inv. 88.11.1.a–b). Surfaced at Sotheby's (London) December 1987.
Paestan bell-krater (inv. 2005.1.72). Surfaced at Sotheby's (London) December 1986; Charles Ede Ltd.
Paestan fishplate (inv. 87.17). Galerie Hydra, Geneva; Sotheby's (London) December 1986; Charles Ede Ltd.
Etruscan terracotta figure of a woman (inv. 88.11.2). Surfaced at Sotheby's (London) December 1987.

Other items were deaccessioned in February 2021, and January 2022.

The way that many of these pieces surfaced through Sotheby's (London) is significant. (For others from these same auctions see here.) Galerie Hydra is associated with material linked to Giacomo Medici (see here).

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Another statue associated with Bubon returns to Türkiye

2025-12-12T17:34:00.002+00:00

The Manhattan DA has announced that a statue that has resided in the collection of Aaron Mendelsohn has been returned to Türkiye (Press Release).

The nature of the return is described:

The D.A.’s Office has been investigating looted Bubon antiquities trafficked into and through New York County since 2022. The ongoing investigation into Bubon has led to the seizure of 16 antiquities from Bubon, 15 of which have already been repatriated, collectively valued at almost $80 million.

In this ceremony we will be returning an over-life-sized bronze statue of a “Nude Emperor” that was looted from Bubon, trafficked through Manhattan, and purchased by collector Aaron Mendelsohn. Pursuant to a deferred prosecution agreement, Mendelsohn has agreed to surrender the statue of the Nude Emperor so that the D.A.’s Office can repatriate it to the people of Türkiye. Mendelsohn’s federal lawsuit challenging the Office’s investigation of the statue was also dismissed.

“The looting into ancient sites like Bubon were extensive, and I am pleased that our investigation has yielded such significant results. I thank the work of our prosecutors and analysts for their dedication to uncovering these trafficking networks that target ancient sites rich with cultural heritage,” said District Attorney Bragg.

“It takes real courage to challenge what is unjust. Today, the dedicated Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the DA’s Office is repatriating artifacts stolen from the Turkish people decades ago. The strong partnership we have built and sustained with determination has carried our national efforts onto the international stage. These restitutions not only reunite the heroes of these cases, but also send a clear message to the world: do not buy cultural property removed illegally from its country of origin. This is how a single return becomes a powerful tool against illicit excavations—and why this work matters more than ever,” said Gökhan Yazgı, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye.

In the 1960s, individuals from a village near Bubon began plundering a Sebasteion, an ancient shrine with monumental bronze statues of Roman emperors and selling those looted antiquities to smugglers based in the coastal Turkish city of Izmir. Working with Switzerland-based trafficker George Zakos and New York-and-Paris-based trafficker Robert Hecht, they unlawfully removed the looted antiquities from Türkiye, transporting them to Switzerland or the United Kingdom, and then onward to the United States or other European destinations. Once the statues were in the United States, New York-based dealers such as Jerome Eisenberg’s Royal-Athena Galleries and the Merrin Gallery funneled the stolen Bubon bronzes into museum exhibitions and academic publications thereby laundering the pieces with newly crafted provenance. As the Bubon pieces graced the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Worcester Museum of Art, and the Fordham Museum of Art, the reputational value of the institutions that displayed the Bubon pieces increased and the financial value of the statues grew.

Other bronzes associated with Bubon are mentioned here. We look forward to his major group of bronze sculptures being displayed in the same space.

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Düver fragments returned to Türkiye from Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

2025-12-12T12:55:00.001+00:00

Source: VMFA

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has announced that it has deaccessioned 41 fragments of the Düver frieze that it acquired in the 1970s (Press Release). Details of the acquisition were provided:

In 1978, VMFA purchased 34 terracotta reliefs from Summa Galleries in Beverly Hills, California, and six additional reliefs were received as gifts from Chicago-based antiquities dealer Harlan J. Berk. The following year, Summa Galleries gave another relief to VMFA, resulting in 41 polychrome terracotta relief fragments from the temple being added to the museum’s collection.

A fragment from a separate New York private collection had been returned in 2022. 48 fragments of the frieze had been returned from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in 2024.

Other museums with parts of the frieze will no doubt be contacting the authorities in Türkiye.

These returns show that the 1970 UNESCO Convention is no longer the benchmark for making the case for repatriations.

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Head of Demosthenes returns to Türkiye

2025-12-12T11:29:00.000+00:00

Head of Demosthenes
Source: New York MMA

Back in November I noted that New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art had returned a marble portrait of Demosthenes to Türkiye. The head was acquired in 2012 (inv. 2012.479.9). The stated collecting history (sometimes known as "provenance") is as follows:

Mussienko Family Collection, Maryland, 1973. Sold by Fortuna Fine Arts, New York, to Ariadne Gallery, New York, in 1987. Sold by the Ariadne Gallery to Morris Pinto, New York, before December, 1992. Consigned by Morris Pinto to Christie’s New York, December 15, 1992, lot 14, passed in. Consigned by Morris Pinto to the Acanthus Gallery, New York. Acquired by Renée E. and Robert A. Belfer from the Acanthus Gallery, New York, before 1998. Given by Renée E. and Robert A. Belfer to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2012.

The head was published in:

Zanker, P. 2016. Roman Portraits: Sculptures in Stone and Bronze in the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Pp. 36-38, no. 9.

The portrait now features in a press release from the Manhattan DA:

This sculpture originated in Türkiye near the modern city of Izmir and first appeared on the art market in the possession of the New York-based Ariadne Galleries, before passing through the hands of several private collectors until it was donated to the Met in 2012. Ariadne Galleries allegedly falsely claimed that it had bought the Marble Head from Fortuna Fine Arts—claiming to have done so two years before Fortuna Fine Arts even existed. Ariadne and Fortuna, which is currently under indictment in federal court for fraud, also allegedly falsely claimed that the Marble Head had previously been in the collection of Boris Mussienko—a name Fortuna and other galleries allegedly frequently used to create false provenance. Law enforcement seized the Marble Head from the Met in 2025.

For clarification the head was seized in September 2025. For other material associated with "Mussienko" see here.

Again this is a reminder of the need to authenticate the collecting histories before making acquisitions.

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Two lots withdrawn from Bonham's sale

2025-11-27T22:25:00.001+00:00

Becchina Archive

Source: Christos Tsirogiannis.

Dr Christos Tsirogiannis has identified two lots that were due to be auctioned at next week's sale of antiquities at Bonham's (4 December 2025). Both feature in the Becchina archive. They have now been withdrawn (along with lot 126).

Lot 15 is a South Italian terracotta figure. It was said to have been in a private collection in France in 1979 before entering the Nina Borowski collection in the 1990s. It is reported to be part of unnamed private collection in Switzerland. The entry in the Palladion Antike Kunst records suggest that it was part of an unnamed Swiss private collection.

Lot 123 is an Attic red-figured pelike showing an Eros on horseback currently in the Lloyd and Jeanne Raport collection. Tsirogiannis informs me that the pelike was consigned by Becchina to Sotheby's in London on 17 May 1983 (lot 264).

Did the staff at Bonham's attempt to authenticate the information relating to the collecting histories (so-called "provenance") prior to the sale?

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An Analysis of the Stern Collection of Cycladicising Art

2025-11-14T16:07:00.003+00:00

The loan exhibition of the Leonard N. Stern collection of Cycladicising art at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has been drawing much attention. Our detailed analysis has just been published by Mediterranean Archaeology.

Gill, D. W. J., and C. Tsirogiannis. 2025. "The Stern Collection of Cycladic Figures and the Metropolitan Museum of Art." MeditArch 38: 1–24.

The structure of the article is as follows:

I. Introduction

II. The Formation of the Stern Collection

III. Cycladic Figures in Public Exhibitions and Key Publications

IV. From Cycladic Master to Cycladic Sculptor

V. The Sources of Cycladic Figures Known Before 1970

VI. Potentially Looted Material

VII. Potential Forgeries

VIII. The Rest of the Cycladic Collection

IX. Repatriation or Loans: The Political Dimension

X. Conclusion

Two other studies of the Stern collection have appeared:

Gill, D. W. J. 2025. "Artwashing the Cyclades: The Leonard N. Stern Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." BMCR.

Gill, D. W. J. 2025. "Leonard Stern Collection of Cycladic Antiquities". Museum of Looted Art.

There is a shorter discussion of the Stern collection in this study of Cycladic figures:

Tsirogiannis, C., D. W. J. Gill, and C. Chippindale. 2025. "A Corrupt Cycladic Corpus of Marble Figures." Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies 13: 203–33. [DOI]

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Hecht fragment returns to Italy

2025-11-13T18:22:00.000+00:00

Source: MMA

In January 2024 New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art deaccessioned the foot of an Attic black-figured band cup related to the Lysippides painter (inv. 2017.18; BAPD 340463). The fragment surfaced with Hesperia Arts in Philadelphia in 1957 and was discussed by Sir John Beazley in 1961. It then passed into the hands of Münzen und Medaillen in Basel (1963) and was then sold to the Toledo Museum of Art (inv. 63.25). It featured in the first fascicule of the CVA (1976). The fragment was deacessioned and sold through Christie's, New York (October 25, 2016, lot 15).

A press release (February 18, 2025) from the Manhattan DA informs us:

The Kylix was found and illegally excavated from the Etruscan archaeological site of Vulci in the 1960s before it was smuggled out of Italy by the New York and Paris-based dealer Robert Hecht.

In fact, the cup must have been removed in the 1950s (or earlier). But what is the basis of this new evidence?

More importantly, what does it means for museums that acquired items that passed through Hesperia Arts in the 1950s and 1960s? Eight items appear in the Beazley Archive Pottery Database, including a clutch formerly in the collection of J.V. Noble. There are even more pieces listed under "Philadelphia market": a quick check on some of the pieces quickly established a named link with Robert Hecht or Hesperia Arts. And I noted another black-figured amphora that certainly passed through Hesperia Arts but that information was not recorded on BAPD.

Is Italy now pursuing items that surfaced well before the 1970 UNESCO Convention? Will this result in a further set of returns?

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Further returns to Greece from the Met

2025-11-10T22:14:00.000+00:00

Source: Hellenic Consulate General in New York

In September 2025 a number of antiquities were seized from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and at least six formed part of the return to Greece announced at the beginning of October. All have been acquired from Andrés A. Mata in 2001 and 2004, and all had been purchased from Fortuna Fine Arts. They include two stone axe heads (2004.342.3–4), a Cretan or Cycladic terracotta jug (2004.342.2), a Cycladic collared jar (2004.342.1), and two iron swords (2001.346, 2001.543). One of the swords was given to the museum in honour of Carlos A. Picón.

A further piece was mentioned in the press release, an archaic bronze gorgon applique. It had apparently surfaced through Robert Hecht, who sold it to Fortuna Fine Arts. It then added:

Fortuna then falsely claimed that the Gorgon came from William Froelich, a name frequently used by Fortuna and other galleries in its false provenance. Thereafter, the Gorgon was sold to a private collector who placed the antiquity on loan at the Met. The Antiquities Trafficking Unit seized the Gorgon from the Met in 2025.

This appears to be the figure that formed part of the exhibition, ‘Dangerous Beauty’, and was identified as coming from the collection of Andrés A. Mata. (The figure can be seen in press photograph of the October 2025 handover.)

Another gorgon applique that passed through Fortuna Fine Arts was acquired by the Carlos Museum at Emory University in 2017: it was a gift of Mata, Sybil and Ed Ralston, and Judy and Michael Steinhardt (2017.025.001). Mata also gave an inscribed bronze hydria rim to the museum in 2014 in honour of Jasper Gaunt (2014.023.001).

The mention of Froelich is important as it appears, in connection with Fortuna Fine Arts, in the history of a Tarentine limestone funerary relief acquired by the Met in 2013. Froelich and Fortuna came together in the history of a Canosan terracotta figure of Zeus that was withdrawn from a sale at Christie’s. The history also mentions Boris Mussienko. This name appears against a bronze Aphrodite on loan to the Met from a private collector and returned to Italy.

Fortuna then falsely claimed that the Statuette came from Boris Mussienko, a name frequently used by Fortuna and other galleries in its false provenance. Thereafter, the Statuette was sold to a private collector who placed the antiquity on loan at the Met. The Antiquities Trafficking Unit seized the Statuette from the Met in 2025.

The Met seizures may well have serious implications for other collections.

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