Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T02:20:38.426Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Boston to Rome: Reflections on Returning Antiquities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2007

David Gill  and
Christopher Chippindale
David Gill
Affiliation:
Centre for Egyptology and Mediterranean Archaeology, School of Humanities, University of Wales Swansea. Email: d.w.j.gill@swansea.ac.uk
Christopher Chippindale
Affiliation:
Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Email: cc43@cam.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The return of 13 classical antiquities from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) to Italy provides a glimpse into a major museum's acquisition patterns from 1971 to 1999. Evidence emerging during the trial of Marion True and Robert E. Hecht Jr. in Rome is allowing the Italian authorities to identify antiquities that have been removed from their archaeological contexts by illicit digging. Key dealers and galleries are identified, and with them other objects that have followed the same route. The fabrication of old collections to hide the recent surfacing of antiquities is also explored.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors are grateful to the following for their assistance during the writing of this paper: Malcolm Bell, Ann Copeland (La Trobe University), Tracey Cullen, Colin Hope (Monash University), Andrew Jamieson (University of Melbourne), Ian MacPhee (La Trobe University), Jessica Powers (San Antonio Museum of Art), Sonia Puttock (University of Queensland), Peter Watson, and Karol Wight (The J. Paul Getty Museum).

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , August 2006 , pp. 311 - 331
Copyright
© 2006 International Cultural Property Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Apostolidis, Andreas. Archaiokapilia kai emporio archaiotiton. Mouseia, emporoi technis, oikoi dimoprasion, idiotikes sulloges. Athens: Agra, 2006.
Bell, Malcolm. “La provenienza rotrovata, cercando il contesto di antichità trafugate.” In Antichità senza provenienza II, Supplemento a Bollettino d'Arte 1997 101–102, 2000: 31–41.
Butcher, Kevin, and David W. J. Gill. “Mischievous Pastime or Historical Science?” Antiquity 64 (1990): 946–50.Google Scholar
Chippindale, Christopher, and David W. J. Gill. “Material Consequences of Contemporary Classical Collecting.” American Journal of Archaeology 104 (2000): 463–511.Google Scholar
Cohen, Beith, A. Dale Trendall, and H. Alan Shapiro. Mother City and Colony: Classical Athenian and South Italian Vases in New Zealand and Australia. Christchurch, New Zealand: University of Canterbury, 1995.
Connor, Peter, and Heather Jackson. A Catalogue of Greek Vases in the Collection of the University of Melbourne at the Ian Potter Museum of Art. South Melbourne: Macmillan, 2000.
Eakin, Hugh, and Randy Kennedy. “Doubts on Donors' Collection Clouds Met Project.” New York Times, December 10, 2005.
Edgers, Geoff. “Objects of Inspection.” Boston Globe, March 19, 2006.
Edgers, Geoff. “MFA Returns Art to Italy, Paves Way for Collaboration.” Boston Globe, September 29, 2006.
Edgers, Geoff, and Sofia Celeste. “Case in Italy Suggests MFA Received Stolen Art: Museums Says it Received No Proof.” Boston Globe, November 4, 2005.
Edgers, Geoff, and Susanna Pinto. “MFA Agrees to Return Disputed Art to Italy: New Joint Effort on Stolen Works.” Boston Globe, July 28, 2006.
Elia, Ricardo J. “Analysis of the Looting, Selling, and Collecting of Apulian Red-Figure Vases: A Quantitative Approach.” In Trade in Illicit Antiquities: The Destruction of the World's Archaeological Heritage, edited by N. Brodie, J. Doole, and C. Renfrew, 145–53. Cambridge: McDonald Institute, 2001.
Gill, David W. J. “Recent Acquisitions by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1971–1989.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 110 (1990): 290–94.Google Scholar
Gill, David W. J. “Sotheby's, Sleaze and Subterfuge: Inside the Antiquities Trade.” Antiquity 71 (1997): 468–71.Google Scholar
Gill, David W. J. Review of Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Antiquities (Los Angeles 1997). In Bryn Mawr Classical Review (1998).
Heurgon, J. “Graffites étrusque au J. Paul Getty Museum.” In Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum 4, 181–86. Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1989.
Mazur, Susan. “Italy Will Contest Medea Vase Now at Cleveland Museum.” In Scoop.co.nz. (accessed 8 December 2006).
Meier, Barry. “The Case of the Contest Coins: a Modern-Day Battle Over Ancient Objects.” New York Times, September 24, 1998.
Meier, Barry. “Turkish Government, 1,700; U.S. Investor, 1.” New York Times, March 5, 1999.
Mellink, Machteld J. “Archaeology in Asia Minor.” American Journal of Archaeology 68 (1964): 149–66.Google Scholar
Mellink, Machteld J. “Archaeology in Asia Minor: Addenda.” American Journal of Archaeology 70 (1966): 279–82.Google Scholar
Mizuta, Akira. Schwarz- und Rotfigurige Vasen in Japanischen Sammlungen, Corpus vasorum antiquorum. Japan; fasc. 2. Tokyo: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 1991.
Nicholls, Richard V. “Recent Additions by the Fitzwilliam Museum.” Archaeological Reports 17 (1970/1): 68–76.Google Scholar
Özgen, Ilknur, and Jean Öztürk. The Lydian Treasure: Heritage Recovered. Istanbul: Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture General Directorate of Monuments and Museums, 1996.
Padgett, J. Michael. Vase-Painting in Italy: Red-Figure and Related Works in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, Mass.: The Museum of Fine Arts, 1993.
Shapiro, H. Alan, Carlos A. Picón, and Gerry D. Scott II, eds. Greek Vases in the San Antonio Museum of Art. San Antonio: San Antonio Museum of Art, 1995.
Shefton, Brian B. “A Greek Lionhead in Newcastle and Zurich.” Antiquity 59 (1985): 42–44.Google Scholar
Simon, Erika. The Kurashiki Ninagawa Museum: Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities. Mainz: Phillip von Zabern, 1982.
Silver, Vernon. “Smuggling Ring Used Sotheby's 110 times, Italian Probe Shows.” In Bloomberg.com. November 4, 2005.
Silver, Vernon. “Rome Prosecutor Asked Convict to Accuse the Met, Smuggler Says.” In Bloomberg.com. November 8, 2005.
Sotirakopoulou, Peggy. The “Keros Hoard”: Myth or Reality? Searching for the Lost Pieces of a Puzzle. Athens: N.P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art, 2005.
Spier, J., and J. Kagan. “Sir Charles Frederick and the Forgery of Ancient Coins in Eighteenth-Century Rome.” Journal of The History of Collections 12 (2000): 35–90.Google Scholar
Spivey, Nigel. Etruscan Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
Termer, H. Kunst der Antike. Hamburg: Galerie Neuendorf, 1980.
Thomas, N. “Recent Acquisitions by Birmingham City Museum.” Archaeological Reports (1964/65): 63–70.Google Scholar
Towne-Markus, Elana. Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Antiquities. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997.
Trendall, A. Dale, and Alexander Cambitoglou. Second Supplement to the Red-Figured Vases of Apulia, part 1, University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin Supplement, vol. 60. London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1991.
True, Marion. “The Getty Kouros: Background on the Problem.” In The Getty Kouros Colloquium: Athens, 25–27 May 1992, 11–15. Athens: Nicholas P. Goulandris Foundation / Museum of Cycladic Art, 1993.
Vitelli, Karen D. “The Antiquities Market.” Journal of Field Archaeology 9 (1982): 273–78.Google Scholar
von Bothmer, Dietrich. A Greek and Roman Treasury. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984.
von Bothmer, Dietrich, ed. Glories of the Past: Ancient Art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990.
Watson, Peter. Sotheby's, the Inside Story. London: Bloomsbury, 1997.
Watson, Peter. “The Fall of Robin Symes.” Culture Without Context 15 (2004).Google Scholar
Watson, Peter, and Cecilia Todeschini. The Medici Conspiracy: the Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities from Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Great Museums. New York: Public Affairs, 2006.
White, Shelby. “Building American Museums: the Role of the Private Collector.” In Who Owns the Past? Cultural Policy, Cultural Property, and the Law, edited by K. Fitz Gibbon, 165–77. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press / American Council for Cultural Policy, 2005.
Williams, Dyfri. “Onesimos and the Getty Iliupersis.” In Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum 5, edited by M. True, 41–64. Occasional Papers on Antiquities 7. Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991.