Back in May 2013, Swiss businessman and freeport mogul, Yves Bouvier drew international interest when he negotiated a lower purchase price for the painting “Salvator Mundi” (Savior of the World), attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, from the artwork's consortium's sellers. After a short period of discussion, the businessman's offer of $83 million, via a privately brokered sale proposal, was accepted by the sellers.
This transaction was closed by Sotheby's rainmaker, Sam Valette, a senior director and vice-chairman of private sales for the auction house. Known for his ability to generate large sums of money closing deals with high profile clients who seek total discretion outside the auction hall, Valette also, on occasion, wrote assessments on artworks for Bouvier.
As the Swiss art dealer was known to buy works of art from Sotheby’s in his own name in furtherance of his art sales business. Valette purportedly was not aware of who Bouvier intended to sell the painting to. This suggested that as far as the auction house was concerned, Bouvier was not, in this instance, to their specific knowledge, acting as an agent for any buyer in particular when the Da Vinci transaction was finalised.
Immediately after purchasing “Salvator Mundi”, Bouvier flipped the oil painting to his then long-standing client, Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian oligarch whose fortune was built from his interests in Uralkali, one of the world's leading producers of potash fertiliser and one of Russia's largest chemical companies. Bouvier sold the Christ painting to the Russian for $127.5 million, $44 million more than he had purchased it for.
But by March 2015 Rybolovlev had filed a series of lawsuits against Bouvier in two countries: Hong Kong and Singapore, where he had begin accusing his former business associate of swindling him out of nearly $1 billion via the sale of some 38 works of art for 2.2 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in total. During that period, Rybolovlev's legal team succeeded in obtaining a “Mareva injunction”, a legal procedure authorising the near-instantaneous freezing of Yves Bouvier’s worldwide assets. He followed those up in 2017 and 2019 by filing two complaints in Geneva, Switzerland against Bouvier and his alleged “accomplices for gang fraud and money laundering.
While the legal feud was still in full swing, the oligarch sold “Salvator at Christie's to Saudi Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud in November 2017for $450.3 million. Shortly thereafter when the buyer was announced, news reports declared that the painting would be publicly displayed on September 18, 2018, at the newly opened Louvre in Abu Dhabi. But that never happened.
By December 2019 Dmitry Rybolovlev long-running legal battle with the art dealer had begun to seriously fizzle. First, before the Monaco appeals court, after he himself was charged in relation to a probe into influence peddling and corruption involving Monegasque government officials, and allegedly justice minister, Laurent Anselmi who resigned during the scandal. Then things went quiet, with both sides apparently in private negotiations, working towards a settlement.
On November 20th the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Geneva was informed that Rybolovlev and Bouvier had formally buried the hatchet and according to their respective lawyers, the pair were no longer at logger heads regarding their past business dealings.
Having reaching an undisclosed agreement, which included the withdrawal of all complaints launched by Yves Bouvier and Dmitry Rybolovlev, as well as those concerning Tania Rappo and Tetiana Bersheda, the former lawyer of the Russian billionaire and a settlement agreeing that the civil case against Bouvier in Singapore will also be terminated "the parties requested that no further action be taken in the criminal proceedings and indicated that they would not be opposed to the case being closed.”
"The Public Prosecutor's Office closed the procedure for the first time on September 15, 2021 on the grounds that the elements constituting the offences had not been fulfilled and that a procedure, relating to the same facts, had been carried out in Monaco. "
"In a ruling dated 26 July 2022, the Criminal Appeal Division of the Court of Justice overturned this decision and referred the case back to the Public Prosecutor's Office to resume the investigation. Following this ruling, the Public Prosecutor's Office conducted a number of hearings, which did not provide any evidence to raise sufficient suspicion against the defendants."
The prosecution does require Bouvier to pay 100,000 Swiss francs in court costs.
Video Credit: Consulate General of the Republic of Turkey
The works returned and exhibited at the New York Turkish House include:
The heads of 22 delicate Anatolian marble idols of the Kiliya type from the Chalcolithic period.
Intact and fragmented bronze sculptures, including two Heads of the Roman emperor Caracalla and the Bust of a Lady, which had been looted from Boubon, the ancient region known as the Cibyratis some 20 km south of Gölhisar, near the village İbecik in the Turkish province of Burdu. This site was extensively looted in the 1960s.
The two heads—one depicting a younger Caracalla previously held in the collection of the Fordham Museum of Art and the other featuring an older Caracalla from the Metropolitan Museum of Art had been confiscated in March 2023.
According to investigations conducted at the New York District Attorney's Office in Manhattan, the 160-180 CE Bust of a Lady was initially removed from Boubon and later transported to Switzerland via the now-deceased American antiquities dealer, Robert Hecht, where it was later purchased by the Worcester Art Museum, where it was exhibited until its confiscation in June 2023.
Some of these pieces had been in circulation via Jerome Eisenberg of Royal Athena Gallery and Michael L. Ward of Michael Ward & Co.
Other objects returned include various terracotta vessels, marble statuettes, and ancient armour.
Turkey's Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Gökhan Yazgı thanked the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and its team as well as HSI-ICE for cooperating with Turkish institutions in the recovery of these artefacts, emphasising these returns were the fruits of a “hard-working and dedicated team” within the relevant institutions of the two countries, collaborating for 5 years, which has resulted in the return of these cultural assets.
Image and Video Credits: Fatih Aktaş - Anadolu Agency
Image Credit: Exhibition Arte Liberata 1937-1947: Masterpieces Saved from War.
This past week Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper stirred up a long-standing dispute between Italy's National Roman Museum and Germany's Antikensammlungen state antiquities collection regarding who is the rightful owner of the Discobolus Lancellotti, also known as the Discobolus Palombara. Frozen in a moment of dynamic tension, much like the ownership debate, the marble depiction of an athlete stands as a remarkable example of the classical aesthetics that characterised the ancient world.
Believed to be a 2nd Century CE marble copy modelled after the original bronze Greek masterpiece created by Myron of Eleutherae around 450 BCE, the Roman version has endured through the centuries and offers its viewers a fascinating glimpse into the Roman's appreciation for the athletes and artistry of the Greeks, as well as the contentious nature of provenance. The statue depicts the sportsman frozen in a moment of athletic intensity, poised like a coiled spring wound in high tension, to intricately render the disk thrower's musculature and balance.
The anatomy of the discobolus, as drawn by the talented @PaulCarneyArts
Rediscovered on the Esquiline Hill in Rome on March 14, 1781 during an excavation carried out by workmen working for the Marquise Barbara Savelli Palombara (1750–1826) and her husband Papal postmaster Camillo Francesco Massimo (1730–1801), the statue was unearthed on the grounds of the 17th century Villa Palombara sull'Esquilino. There, the accidental archaeology of the diggers unearthed what would turn out to be an extraordinary collection of ancient artistic masterpieces, only one of which was the life-size, 156 centimetre-tall Discobolus.
The ancient Villa Palombara in a map engraved by Giovanni Battista Falda (1676).
Initially cleaned in the 18th century by Giuseppe Angelini, it was Italian soon-to-be archaeologists Giovanni Battista Visconti and Filippo Waquier De La Barthe who first published on the the marble sculpture as a Roma copy of Muron's bronze originalin 1801, augmenting their research with an illustration by Carlo Fea.
Depicting an athlete who competed in Greek agones (athletic competitions), the sculpture's popularity became uniquely recognisable, even to non art historians. Its discovery also provided us with a fascinating glimpse into the artistic preferences and lavish lifestyles of ancient Rome's elites, and marked a seminal moment in what we now know and understand about artistic preferences in the classical period.
Having reattached his right arm and left foot, the Discobolus sculpture was taken by the Massimo (later Lancellotti) family to Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, the site of the family's ancestral properties, located on Via Papalis (now Corso Vittorio Emanuele II). There it was given its own private viewing room on the palazzo's piano nobile or main floor. Later, it would it be installed by Prince Filippo Massimo Lancellotti and Princess Elisabetta Borghese Aldobrandini at the Palazzo Massimo Lancellotti.
By January 1937 the Lancellotti family was actively shopping the sculpture for a new owner. Following the 25 January 1937 death of Princess Elisabetta Borghese Aldobrandini, we can document a 29 January 1937 letter written by Gisela Richter to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's director, Herbert E. Winlock, where the US museum director was alerted to the fact that the Discobolus had been shopped by “the very difficult old lady at the head of the house” to foreign museums.
Yet despite the Met's rather healthy and hastily-gathered purchase budget, capped at $300,000 including export fees, and with Joseph Brummer acting as the museum's purchasing agent through Roman antiquities’ dealers, Ettore and Augusto Jandolo, the Met moved too slowly and the marble sculpture was sold to the German state. As a consolation prize, the Met was still able to acquire a marquetry studiolo from Federico da Montefeltro’s palace in Gubbio which was sold by the Lancellotti family in 1937 to Adolph (Adolpho) Loewi, a German-Jewish art and antiquities dealer who flipped the piece to the Met before leaving Italy in 1939.
Germany's fascination with the Discobolus
Even before its purchase, the discobolus was firmly cemented in the hearts of Germans. More so when held up as the ideal in the rhetoric, propaganda, art, and architecture of National Socialism. This fascination can be seen in the evocative prologue of the 1936 film directed by Leni Riefenstahl Olympia – Festival of Nations which documented that summer's Olympics, held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin during the Nazi period.
Released in Germany on Hitler’s birthday on 20 April 1938, one month shy of the Nazis’ purchase of the statue, the film begins with a fanciful recreation of the ruins of the Acropolis of Athens, focusing in, with short clips, on a varying group of Greek statues before the montage concludes with a clearer image of the Discobolus as it gradually morphs into the ideal German athlete, Erwin Huber, who competed in the men's decathlon. His transformation was meant to illustrate the 'Vigour and beauty' of ancient Greece reborn in the athleticism and perfect physical form of modern Germany.
But back to the sale of the Discobolus
Bear in mind that in 1937 when Adolf Hitler first expressed interest in the Discobolus, Italy's cultural property was already protected by Law No. 364/1909, commonly referred to as the 'Rosadi-Rava Law. This law, approved by the Italian parliament, stated that when a good owned by an individual or a private entity is classified as cultural property, the owner remained under an obligation to preserve its integrity (Article 20(1)(a) of the CHC). Furthermore, an authorisation by the Ministry of Education was required before such objects could be moved from their current location, for example, for a showing at an exhibition (Article 20(1)(b) of the CHC)3 or for restoration (Article 20(4) of the CHC).
In the case of sale, a privately owned antiquity, classified as cultural property, might be sold, but the seller has an obligation to notify the contract to the Italian State within 30 days of the date of the sale. In case of sale, the State has a pre-emption right, to be exercised within 60 days of the date of receipt of the sale notice (Article 59 of the CHC), all this to say that cultural property of a historic interest to the stated should not have been exported from the national territory on a permanent basis.
Despite this, Benito Mussolini forced the hand of his then-Minister of Education, Giuseppe Bottai, by tacitly approving an export waiver to Adolf Hitler and not stepping in to deny the statue's export. On 18 May 1938 Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini’s son in law and the Foreign Minister of Fascist Italy from 1936 to 1943, completed the sales transaction for the Discobolus. The selling price was five million lire, ($252,000, as calculated later by the US Office of Military Government [OMGUS]), paid out over the protests of Giuseppe Bottai, Minister of Education, and the scholarly community. The German government then paid an additional 1,485,000 lire in export tax to complete the acquisition.
On 29 June 1938 the Discobolus was shipped by train to Germany and was put on display at the Munich Glyptothek, with Hitler in attendance for its opening premiere on by 10 July 1938. Some say Hitler opted for the Munich museum over the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin as a technique of oneupmanship. One hundred years earlier, Ludwig I, the King of Bavaria, had sought to purchase the famous statue for his own collections.
Adolf Hitler in the Munich Glyptothek with the Lancellotti Discobolus, 10 July 1938 - Image Credit US Library of Congress
The Lancellotti Discobolus then spent a decade in Germany, enduring the tumultuous period of World War II and escaping the heavy damage to the Glyptothek in the summer of 1944, when the museum was badly hit by Allied bombing raids. Thankfully, the bulk of the Glyptothek collection of sculptures and works of art had previously been brought to safety in monasteries. What had to be left behind, and not immediately destroyed by the bombing, suffered severe damage in the waning years before its restoration, as the cultural heritage institution was left without a roof.
The remains of the Roman Hall of the Munich Glyptothek in 1945
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After the war, the Discobolus was ordered to be returned to Italy, as part of a broader repatriation effort termed the “Exceptional Return of Works of Art” by Allied authorities. Rodolfo Siviero, Italy's postwar representative dedicated to repatriating art taken from the country since 1937, was known to have played a pivotal role in advocating for the return of the marble statue and other contentious works of art. These pieces, all acquired by the National Socialist government, were contested on the grounds that the export permits were illegal, and in violation of the law of 1909.
But the return of the Discobolus was not without its controversies. On Germany's side, letters of protest were sent to the U.S. Secretary of State, as well as to President Truman. One of these was signed by thirty-six German staff members working at the Munich Central Collecting Point (CCP). Another letter of protest, organised by a professor at the University of Munich, was signed by eighty-eight German officials.
Calls for the decision's repeal were subsequently directed to the colonial authority known as the Office of Military Government, United States, (OMGUS) in Berlin and ultimately culminated in the resignation of Herbert S. Leonard, in November 1948, from his position as director of the Munich Central Collecting Point (CCP). Leonard having resigned in opposition to OMGUS's fixed decision to return seventeen paintings and the sculpture to the Italian government.
The Italian authorities have always maintained that the collection was seized by Fascist leaders and gifted to the Nazis. While Leonard and others working on the provenance of objects held at the collecting point pointed to the fact that sculpture had been purchased by Nazi Germany in 1938 after Mussolini declared an "axis" between Germany and Italy on 1 November 1936 and prior to the start of World War II on 31 August 1939 and was therefore not an under duress sale.
Once back in Italy, in 1948, the Discobolus became part of the collection of the National Roman Museum at Palazzo Massimo. More recently it has been part of an exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale titled Arte Liberata 1937-1947: Capolavori Salvati dalla Guerra dedicated to the theme of cultural heritage at risk during World War II. Afterwards, following a major reorganisation which is anticipated to take three years, the statue is expected to be moved permanently to Palazzo Altemps, close to Piazza Navona. As for whose property the statue is, well I will leave that debate to the lawyers.
Following the order of the Central Court of Investigation number 6 of Madrid on 24 November 2023, it was announced last week that Spain had provisionally delivered a grouping of antiquities including four marble sculptures and eight mosaics, recovered during Operación Harmakis to the Libyan authorities at the country's embassy in Spain.
Hardly covered in the English speaking press, the pieces were formally transferred at a ceremony held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid, the pieces were delivered to Mohamed Alfaloos, the general director of Museums and Archeology of Libya, and representatives of the ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs. Seized during investigations conducted by Spain's law enforcement authorities, each of the artefacts has been earmarked by the Court as having been looted in the North African country, coming from Balagrae (modern day al-Bayda), Apollonia (modern day Marsa-Susa), and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Cyrene (near modern day Shahhat). They will remain at the Libyan embassy in Madrid, in the custody of the Libyan ambassador to Spain, Walid Abu Abdulla, as per the court's ruling, until the legal case surrounding them has concluded.
The recovery of these artefacts dates back to late March 2018, when, after three years of investigations involving some fifty law enforcement officers, including the Spanish Policía Nacional, the UDEV Central de la Comisaría General de Policía Judicial and the UCIE de la Comisaría General de Información formal charges were brought against ancient art dealer Jaume Bagot and his partner Oriol Carreras Palomar. During which, the pair were taken into custody under suspicion for their alleged participation in a crime of financing terrorism, belonging to a criminal organisation, concealment of contraband and use of forgery for their roles in facilitating the sale of illicit antiquities.
During the 2018 Harmakis action, five property searches were conducted, three in Barcelona and two in Argentona, with police inspecting a restoration studio, a deposit/warehouse where the artworks were stored, Bagot's residence and his Barcelona art gallery and the home of Oriol Carreras Palomar. During the execution of these search warrants, artefacts from multiple countries and circulation documentation were retained by police as evidence in a criminal investigation.
On March 28th of that same year, the Policía Nacional in Barcelona released a video which depicts part of the searches in which some of the objects sequestered during their investigation can be identified. In this opensource video, some of the mosaics handed over to the Libyan authorities can be seen beginning at 0.38 seconds into the video. In addition, the marble head of Demeter is depicted from 0.58 until its boxing at 1.11 and the Roman togatus can be seen at 1.19.
Answering to the charges in Spain, Jaume Bagot and Oriel Carreras appeared before Judicial Magistrate Diego de Egea of the Central Court of Instruction Number 6 of the National Court on March 26, 2018 where each were formally informed of the allegations and charges pending against them. During the hearing the magistrate granted both men release pending trial, while imposing a financial surety (bond) of €12000 and a series of pretrial release conditions which include the forfeiture of their passports, a mandate to remain within the territory of Spain, and biweekly court appearances as conditions of their release while awaiting trial.
Standing by the all too familiar, I didn't know approach, which has, for so long, contributed to some of the challenges of prosecuting individuals for the illegal trafficking of cultural objects, Bagot pleaded his innocence in handling blood antiquities in an March 30, 2018 interview with Crónica Global Media. When asked the carefully-worded question --Do you claim not to have bought any objects from sellers in Iraq, Libya or Syria? The Spanish dealer responds cleverly:
What the Barcelona dealer failed to acknowledge in his interview was that he has bought artefacts coming from conflict and post conflict countries, via intermediary sellers, in multiple countries, who are known for brokering the sales of ancient objects from countries plagued with political and civil upheaval including, in this case, funerary sculptures of Cyrene in Libya. This demonstartes, once again, that the routes laundered "blood antiquities" travel can be circuitous and that the international flow patterns conflict, and post conflict, antiquities travel often involve intermediary countries with willing middlemen. This allows bad acting dealers in market country galleries to profess their purchases to these third-parties were made in good faith. That is, until officers leading investigations gather evidence which proves definitively otherwise.
Let's not forget that the 10th section of the Rome court in Italy sentenced Jaume Peix Bagot to 4.5 years of incarceration for his handling & laundering of the second-century headless Roman sculpture depicting the Muse Calliope which had been stolen from actor Roberto Benigni's villa in 2010. That sculpture was identified in Spain with the dealer in April 2019 and was identified as part of a multinational investigation conducted by the Spanish authorities and Italy's Comando Carabinieri per la Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale who also recovered another sculpture in the posession of another Spanish dealer that had been stolen from Villa Borghese.
ARCA would like to close this blog post with a reminder to its collecting readers that the market for illicit antiquities operates within the framework of basic economic principles, where the scarcity of authentic material and supply and demand dynamics play a pivotal role in incentivising the clandestine trade in ancient artefacts. As the demand for antiquities by collectors, private investors, and museums increases, this buying power in turn stimulates profiteering individuals to acquire more and more material, sometimes sourcing artefacts through individuals who engage in, or turn a blind eye to, where, or who, a sellable object comes from.
Collectors of ancient art who acquire archaeological material without conducting thorough scrutiny of the sellers, especially when encountering seemingly too-good-to-be-true items like a Hellenistic Greek marble head from a war torn country, inadvertently fuel a perpetuating cycle of illegal activities. Unchecked acquisitions also contribute to the ongoing destruction of archaeological sites, posing a threat to the preservation of our historical record.
A more conscientious approach involves diligent research into the provenance and legal status of what a collector or museum are purchasing, accompanied by a proactive "Know Your Seller" strategy. This not only shields the purchaser from potential legal complications but also plays a pivotal role in disrupting the demand side of the illicit supply chain for cultural goods, particularly antiquities from conflict-ridden regions.
Responsible acquisition practices can and does empower collectors to contribute actively to the protection of global cultural heritage. By prioritising the preservation of our shared human history over profit, collectors wield significant influence in fostering an art market characterized by ethical values and a genuine commitment to cultural preservation.
After a complex period of study and years of delicate restoration to repair their fragile bodies, the Ephebes of Pedro Abad went on display this week at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. There, for the first time, the statues can be viewed as they were meant to be seen, standing on their own two feet, vertically. Each of the recovered bronzes constitute a milestone in the study of ancient art originating during the Early Roman Empire from ancient Hispania.
Beautiful, as well as extremely rare, the journey of their recovery began in January 2012, when rumours began to circulate regarding the extraordinary discovery of two bronze statues representing pubescent male atheletes. The sore spot being, the finders of the bronzes apparently had no intention of turning the ancient artefacts over to Spain's cultural authorities, as is required by law. Instead, their handlers were shopping the statues around, looking for potential buyers, preferably someone with deep pockets.
Over the following months, officers in Spain assigned to the Jaén Provincial Judicial Police Brigade, the Policía Nacional, and the Guardia Civil, worked to trace the statues' handlers. In an operation investigators code named Operación Bronce, law enforcement agents sifted through dead ends and leads, and were eventually able to trace the handler's occupation to that of a transporter. That in turn lead to finding where he lived in the country.
Through tapped phones detectives were next able to identify and geolocate several other Spanish intermediaries, men who resided in Jaén and Lora del Rio, who spoke with the possessors and who had the contacts necessary to fence material farther up the ancient art supply chain. Officers learned of a plot to sell the statues for €3million a piece, to an Italian buyer who was believed to have the money, the means, and the black market network necessary to launder illicit antiquities, both big and small, through upscale channels within the lucrative ancient art market.
When the Italian began preparing to come to Spain, the police knew they needed to act quickly. When enough evidence of a crime had been established, agents made a requests to the ruling judge to search three properties, two, a home in Cordoba and a home in Pedro Abad for evidence, and a third, where they suspected the bronze statues were likely stored.
On March 21, 2012 agents from the Specialised and Violent Crime Unit ( UDEV ) of the Jaén Provincial Judicial Police Brigade conducted a strategically arranged raid on a property located on the El Palancar farm, located in the municipality of Pedro Abad (Córdoba). There, the Apollonian and the Dionysian ephebes were located, stored in a bodega, carelessly wrapped, like Egyptian mummies in simple white paper.
But the two ancient boys had seen much better days. Unwrapped by police, the ephebe were a torturous mess of mangled and missing body parts. One had his head and genitals lopped off, and both had violently suffered amputated arms and broken hands. Like victims of some terrible accident, in addition to the decapitation, when spread out on the ground, officers could see a gaping gash on one of the statue's legs and a deep and penetrating wound to one of the boy's abdomen.
But even in their wreaked and plundered state, still caked in soil and encrustations, it was easy to see that the bronzes were important, depicting beautiful sculpted nudes which reflected idealised body proportions and athleticism. Based on their decorative characteristics and postures, the bronzes appeared to be "silent servants," or what Homer and Lucretius called golden boys, decorative statues designed by their creators to be a representation of an actual servant, whose primary purpose was to carry lamps or trays on their outstretched arms. Symbolic as well as decorative, statues such as these have been found in triclinium, the banquet rooms of important Roman villas.
Functional as well as beautiful, these types of bronzes are thought to have provided ancient diners with fanciful attendants who tended to their needs, but who never tired. For Spain, the recovered pair have incalculable historical, archaeological and artistic value. Aside from these two, there is only one other known ephebe recorded as having been found in Spain. All three originate in Andalusia in the southernmost tip of the country. And all three come from sites located within a radius of about 100 kilometres" from one another (he third being found in Antequera). Each ephebe comes from archaeological sites which dot the Roman Bética route in ancient Hispania.
How rare is rare?
In total, the number of bronze statues representing ephebe which have survived through history, can be counted on less than ten fingers. To understand their rarity, it's enough to consider were some of the other bronze "servants" are housed. The Apollo of Lillebonne is located in the Musée du Louvre, while the Young Man of Magdalensberg resides in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the Statue of an ephebe from the Bay of Marathon is at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
The Idolino is on display at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze and farther south in Italy, another bronze of this type was recovered during excavations at the House of the Citharist in Pompeii. That one became part of the collection of the Museo Nazionale Archeologico in Naples and seventy-five years after his discovery, in 1925, Amedeo Maiuri excavated another, less than two blocks away on the Via dell’Abbondanza.
But what happened to the would-be smugglers?
On 19 September 2018 at the Juzgado de Primera Instancia nº 1, the Court of First Instance, in Córdoba, the defence and the prosecution reached an agreement resulting in the two brothers from Pedro Abad first charged with the alleged commission of an attempted smuggling, pleading guilty to the misappropriation of historical heritage assets. The pair received a a lighter prison sentence of six months, instead of the potential two years and two months requested earlier by the prosecutors, had their case gone to trial. By pleading out to the lessor charge, the pair also avoided potentially high fines, in the millions.
And the statues?
After their recovery, the Apolíneo and Dionisíaco ephebes were carefully studied. Archaeologists determined that the Roman bronze sculptures were ascribable to the High Imperial era (1st-2nd century CE), and were copies of Greek originals from the 5th century BC or works inspired by these. In May 2019 the ephebes were each approved to register in the General Catalog of Andalusian Historical Heritage (CGPHA) as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), declared BIC by the Governing Council. Humorously, they are listed in the category of Furniture.
Gammographic studies were carried out which provided information about the condition of the statues allowing conservators to understand and observe key aspects that are not visible in direct observation, without the need to manipulate or take samples. This played an important role in pre-intervention studies as it made it possible to detect cracks, fissures, welds, and reinforcement plates. Afterwards, the bronzes were fitted with internal structures and the bases needed to allow them to be displayed as they were always meant to be seen, vertically.
Given the amount of work involved ARCA would like to congratulate everyone who have made this reality possible: from the detectives, to the conservators, to the archaeologists, to the curators, and the careful transporters. Without them, these pieces might never have been returned to the people of Spain.
The Ephebes of Pedro Abad will remain on exhibition at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía through March 4, 2024 within the framework of the official program of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023. Go see them for yourself if you get the chance.
Before ISIS and the attack on Palmyra, before the demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban, came what was the greatest deliberate destruction of cultural heritage in Europe since World War Two during the 1992–1995 Bosnian War, a war whose reverberations were felt around the world.
Far more than any other any other structure, the demolition of Mostar’s graceful sixteenth-century Ottoman Old Bridge, or Stari Most, became emblematic of the attacks on cultural heritage during the conflict. The intensive shelling of the bridge by the HVO and the collapse of the bridge into the river Neretva on 9 November 1993 was a seminal moment in the intentional destruction of cultural heritage during conflict that provoked outrage around the world.
A symposium marking the 30th anniversary of the Old Bridge’s destruction was held at the Society of Antiquaries of London on 9 November 2023. Among the speakers were Helen Walasek, author of Bosnia and the Destruction of Cultural Heritage (the event’s organiser), who gave an overview of the history of the Old Bridge, its destruction and reconstruction, while Professor Luke Moffett of Queen’s University Belfast spoke on legal protections for cultural heritage during armed conflicts using the case of the prosecution of the Herceg-Bosna leaders (Prlić et al) at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), looking at the original guilty verdict for the destruction of the bridge and how that verdict was overturned on appeal.
Heritage expert Robert Bevan, author of The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War and Monumental Lies: Culture Wars and the Truth About the Past spoke on authenticity in the restoration and rebuilding of historic monuments and the 'new' Old Bridge, while art provenance researcher Saida Hasanagic described what the destruction of the Stari Most and its rebuilding meant to her and her family, incorporating as well her recent interviews with local residents and international visitors to Mostar alike.
The event ended with Architectural Association lecturer architect Nerma Cridge speaking on Mostar’s vandalised and neglected Partisan Memorial Cemetery which lies a short distance from the Stari Most, whose huge and spectacular design was by famed architect and former mayor of Belgrade, Bogdan Bogdanović who died in exile in Vienna.
Films of the destruction of the Stari Most were screened, including from SENSE Center for Transitional Justice’s website Targeting History and Memory recording excerpts from the ICTY war crimes prosecution relating to the destruction of the Old Bridge, as well as recently released footage showing the Croatian Army’s (HV) active participation in the attack on the bridge. The event ended with The Forgotten a 2012 film by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) introduced by IWPR’s Managing Editor Daniella Pelled.
You can watch the proceedings published on the Society of Antiquaries’ YouTube channel below.
As various art historians confirm, or negate,the authenticity of the recently-seized Scythian gold recovered by Spanish and Ukrainian law enforcement authorities, I thought I would circle back with a follow up article on what the origin of this collection can tell us about Ukraine's history, and the illicit trade of artefacts coming from this location.
As those who read our earlier article this week have seen, ARCA matched several of the recovered jewellery pieces to exhibitions which displayed 21 pieces of jewellery owned by LLC Rodovid Museum. This relatively new company is controlled by Ukrainian businessman Igor Didkovsky, who, during the presidency of now deposed Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko, was once the director of the Art Arsenal from 2007 to 2010.
From August 2007 to June 2009, Didkovsky also headed the Viche political party, which has since changed its name to Aktsent (in 2018). Didkovsky has described himself as the president of the RODOVID group of companies as well as the Chairman of the supervisory board of ВАТ КУА ІСІ "МИР", which appears to be a closed-end venture investment fund.
Interviewed in 2012, Didkovsky boasted that he was the owner of the largest collection of Scythian gold in the world. At the time of these statements, it was reported that his collection included 4 pectorals as well as the only belt of a Scythian queen. All of which the collector claimed to have purchased for "a small amount of money."
As has been stated in the Policia Nacional press release, the joint Spanish - Ukrainian investigation was kickstarted in 2021 with the private sale of what was described as a Scythian "gold belt with ram heads that was deposited in a safe in Madrid." If the object identified in the Spain case is the same belt of a Scythian queen mentioned by Didkovsky, we now have a Facebook social media photo identifying that specific artefact, when it was listed as part of the exhibition held at the Kyiv hotel.
Black Archaeology + wealth + unethical collecting + confllict excavations
At its peak in the Middle Ages, the Slavic kingdom of the Kyivan Rus, as Ukraine was then known, extended north from the Black Sea to encompass most of what is now western Russia. Rich in history, Ukraine's movable cultural heritage includes material from Paleolithic and Neolithic settlements, the settlements of the Trypillian people, and the rare, but glittery, gold-filled Scythian and Sarmatian burial sites.
During his lifetime, (490/480-425 BCE) Greek historian Herodotus, in Book IV, chapter 71 of his History of the Persian Wars, described the lives of the Scythians and other nomadic groups with whom the Greeks interacted. Illegally excavated Scythian artefacts come often come from Ukraine's treasure-rich burial mounds which are concentrated along the lower Dnieper River area.
Other Scythian sites can be found on either side of the Kerch Straits between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, as well as in the Caucasus Mountains primarily along the Kuban River and in the contested area of Crimea.
Unfortunately, privately collecting by the country's elite who too often have an odious lack of concern for an object's origins, is all too prevalent. Following its independence, Ukraine has seen the rise of several private archaeological collections, of which only a few have any footprint in the public domain.
In addition to Didkovsky's we also have the Feldman collection, which was started by Oleksandr Feldman, and is now part of the Feldman Family Museum project in Kharkiv, the Platar and the Yushchenko collections.
Kateryna Yushchenko is known to have worn a burgundy dress, adorned with a striking ancient Greek fibula, as well as ancient Sarmatian bracelets with garnet inserts and a ring during her husband’s inauguration ceremony as president of Ukraine in January 2005. Those pieces had purportedly been borrowed from the late Serhiy Platonov's controversial Platar collection, another privately funded museum initiative based in Kyiv.
Sergei Platonov died in 2005, leaving his ancient art collection, the Platar, to his heirs and business partners. While living, he often indicated that he and his colleague, politician Sergey Taruta, bought material specifically to protect Ukraine's heritage from avaricious foreigners. Like Didkovsky, Platonov didn't shy away from acknowledging to have purchased artefacts sourced via black archaeology -- the looting of archaeological sites, rather than through the ethical purchase of artefacts already in circulation from legitimate sources.
It is this level of nonchalant buying power which serves to incentivise illegal excavations in some of Ukraine's most vulnerable areas. And it is this increased demand for high value finds which contributes to the destruction of the country's archaeological heritage as well as what we can learn about the country's past through more methodical exploration and documentation.
As private museums, step up and step in to provide valuable venue spaces where state run institutions may not exist or may be underfunded, we would like to encourage philanthropists to step away from their collecting nihilism and to abide by the Code of Museum Ethics of ICOM, developed by the International Council of Museums specifically to address the need for ethical collecting.
According to the ICOM code:
2.3 Provenance and Due Diligence "Every effort must be made before acquisition to ensure that any object or specimen offered for purchase, gift, loan, bequest, or exchange has not been illegally obtained in, or exported from its country of origin or any intermediate country in which it might have been owned legally (including the museum’s own country). Due diligence in this regard should establish the full history of the item since discovery or production."
4.5 Display of Unprovenanced Material: "Museums should avoid displaying or otherwise using material of questionable origin or lacking provenance. They should be aware that such displays or usage can be seen to condone and contribute to the illicit trade in cultural property."
But not all historic artefacts smuggled out of the Ukraine, originate from within the territory. And not all trafficked material, removed in contravention of the country's laws and international instruments, has been removed trafficking networks like the one revealed to be operating in Spain.
Recently, in May 2023 Censor.NET journalist Tetyana Nikolayenko published a copy of the letter in which the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed the opening of an investigation after State Customs at the border in the Lviv region detained Chinese objects from the same Platar collection mentioned earlier. According to statements by this collection's patrons, Sergei Platonov's son Mykola Platonov and Sergey Taruta, the items were being exported to Prague for an exhibition at the Galerie Gema s.r.o,a rather oddly selected venue for historic pieces of that calibre.
Other artefact rich locations in Ukraine which have been subject to predation, include the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Chersonesus, founded by Dorian Greeks in the 5th century BCE, and sometimes referred to as the Ukrainian Pompeii. This expansive site sits just three miles west, as the crow flies, of modern-day Sevastopol.
In 2021, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation issued a permit for archaeological work in occupied Crimea specifically at the site of Chersonesus. Working in an area covering some 400,000 square meters, the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology of Crimea of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Sevastopol State University began excavating, in some cases using heavy equipment and improper scientific methods as trenches were cleared.
This exploration is openly reported on the Hermitage website, despite the fact that it violates the 1954 Hague Convention,
According to this report published by the State Hermatage Museum, excavations by their researchers uncovered 70 objects which were then transferred to the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia in contravention of Ukraine's cultural heritage laws.
These objects included:
"a set of dishes for a funeral meal (jugs, bowls, drinking vessels), clay lamps, glass balsamaria, bone and bronze pyxides, small household items made of non-ferrous and precious metals, jewelry and clothing decorative elements, agate and carnelian beads, pendants from Egyptian faience. Gold eyecups and mouthpieces were discovered in the urns - details of the funeral rites of noble citizens of Roman times."
Article 9 - Protection of cultural property in occupied territory
1. Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention, a Party in occupation of the whole or part of the territory of another Party shall prohibit and prevent in relation to the occupied territory:
(a) any illicit export, other removal or transfer of ownership of cultural property;
(b) any archaeological excavation, save where this is strictly required to safeguard, record or preserve cultural property;
(c) any alteration to, or change of use of, cultural property which is intended to conceal or destroy cultural, historical or scientific evidence.
2. Any archaeological excavation of, alteration to, or change of use of, cultural property in occupied territory shall, unless circumstances do not permit, be carried out in close cooperation with the competent national authorities of the occupied territory.
Just my way of saying to those in a position of wealth and/or power the axe forgets, but the tree remembers.
Officers working with Spain's Policía Nacional have recovered a collection of Scythian, Greek craftsmanship VIII-IVth century BCE gold jewellery. The pieces, which consist mainly of necklaces and earrings, had been fenced by a criminal network involved in the sale of Ukraine-sourced antiquities via a web of sales transactions, at least one of which was identified in Madrid.
According to statements released by Spain's National Police, the jewellery had previously been exhibited in an unnamed Kyiv museum between 2009-2013. While the museum was not mentioned in the law enforcement press release, one of the striking pieces was fairly easy to recognise, which has helped identify at least one public showing of several of the now-seized pieces.
The piece we first recognised is a striking openwork royal chest decoration, made up of four strands of woven gold, depicting images of animals and plants. The object is similar to the famous Mozolevsky pectoral, found in 1971 in the Tolstaya Mogila mound near Ordzhonikidze. This one however is stated to have possibly come from Kul-oba, a burial mound of a Scythian leader, discovered in 1830 near Kerch, Crimea which was partially looted prior to formal excavations.
This recovered pectoral, a second container for storing aromatic oils decorated with carnelian stones, a pair of the earrings, a pin, and a collar necklace all match objects which have been part of an exhibition entitled “From the Depths”which was held at the then unfinished Mystetskyi Arsenal Museum on Mazepa Street in Kiev.
Along with unique exhibits from state museums, the exhibition included a grouping of gold jewellery from the private museum collection "Rodovid", and were registered with the Ministry of Culture with inventory numbers. None of these items could be sold or taken out of Ukraine (unless their export was authorised for a exhibition loan).
According to Russian and Ukrainian language news sites, the 21 items displayed in Kiev at this earlier exhibition were found at different times in burial mounds of the Scythian period on the territory of Ukraine which had survived "having passed through many hands, from tomb robbers to private collectors".
The seized jewellery is believed to have been smuggled illegally out of Ukraine on/around 2016. Police have indicated that the confiscated cultural assets had been shopped with forged ownership documents which claimed that the jewellery was the legal property of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. To assist in carrying out this ruse, the objects were marketed through a priest who is reported to live in the Spanish capital.
In furtherance of their sale, this group of traffickers had the jewellery grouping appraised where their estimated worth was listed as 60 million euros. Having been removed without export authorisation, they constitute stolen property from the country of Ukraine. The items therefore serve as the evidentiary basis by which three Spaniards and two individuals of Ukrainian nationality have been arrested. All five individuals are being charged, in Spain, with having participated in the commission of the crime of money laundering.
According to police press announcements, the traffickers who circulated this jewellery grouping were identified as the result of a well-coordinated criminal investigation which was initiated in 2021, and involved law enforcement coordination from several countries, and including investigators from Spain, the Ukrainian Security Service, the Interior Attaché Office in Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia, Cyprus and the International Cooperation Division. Police became aware of the network when a Ukrainian national was discovered to have sold one of the objects, a gold belt with rams heads to a Madrid businessman. Following on this first lead, police discovered that the Scythian pieces were being sold via different commercial companies, likely utilised to disguise the ownership of the objects, and to not attract the attention of national controls relating to this ongoing conflict.
For the present, all of the recovered pieces are being studied at the National Archaeological Museum and the Cultural Heritage Institute of Spain.
Convegno: La protezione dei beni culturali in situazioni di rischio. Il ruolo della Croce Rossa*
Giorno: 3 novembre 2023 Ore: 8.30 - 12.15
Cerimonia di Svelamento Ore:12.15-12.45
Workshop Teorico e Practico
Ore: 14.30-17.30
Università degli Studi di Bergamo - Aula Magna
Ex Monastero di Sant'Agostino - Piazzale Sant'Agostino 2, Bergamo
Una giornata di studi dedicata al tema “La protezione dei beni culturali in situazioni di rischio. Il ruolo della Croce Rossa ” che si terrà il 3 novembre nell’Aula Magna dell’Università degli Studi di Bergamo, nella sede dell’ex convento di Sant’Agostino.
Il convegno è promosso da Croce Rossa Italiana - Comitati di Bergamo e Brescia nell’ambito del progetto “Uno Scudo per la cultura”, organizzato in occasione di Bergamo Brescia Capitale della Cultura 2023, nel solco della campagna nazionale di Croce Rossa Italiana “Il futuro ha una lunga storia. Proteggiamola”.
Fanno parte del Comitato scientifico: Giulio Bartolini (Università Roma Tre), Marzia Como (Croce Rossa Italiana), Carlotta Coccoli (Università degli Studi di Brescia); Corrado Del Bò (Università degli Studi di Bergamo), Elisabetta Fusar Poli (Università degli Studi di Brescia), Giulio Mirabella Roberti (Università degli Studi di Bergamo), Maria Paola Pasini (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore).
In particolare, la giornata del 3 novembre sarà l’occasione per approfondire il quadro della protezione dei beni culturali sia dal punto di vista storico e giuridico che attraverso il ruolo e l’esperienza degli enti che, concretamente, concorrono a metterla in atto.
Dopo l’introduzione sul Diritto Internazionale Umanitario di cui la protezione dei beni culturali è parte integrante (a cura di Costanza Arcuri, Croce Rossa Italiana – Comitato di Bergamo Hinterland), seguirà l’approfondimento di Michele Romeo Jasinski (Focal point campagna nazionale “Il futuro ha una lunga storia. Proteggiamola”) sul ruolo di Croce Rossa oggi.
Carlotta Coccoli (Università degli Studi di Brescia) tratterà invece l’argomento in una prospettiva storica, affrontando il tema del “pronto soccorso” di monumenti, biblioteche e musei danneggiati nel corso della Seconda Guerra Mondiale.
Seguiranno una serie di interventi relativi alle competenze e alle funzioni svolte da diversi enti coinvolti nella protezione dei beni culturali: il ruolo delle Soprintendenze, della Protezione civile (Elsa Boemi, Scuola Superiore di Protezione Civile di Regione Lombardia), dei Vigili del Fuoco, e dell’Arma dei Carabinieri.
Gli interventi permetteranno di definire il quadro complessivo della protezione dei beni culturali in situazioni di rischio, di mettere a fattor comune le esperienze, e di evidenziare criticità e nuovi spazi di collaborazione.
L’ultima parte del convegno sarà dedicata alla tutela giuridica internazionale tra pace e cultura con Elisabetta Fusar Poli (Università degli Studi di Brescia).
Le conclusioni saranno affidate ai presidenti dei comitati bergamasco e bresciano di Croce Rossa Italiana, Maurizio Bonomi e Carolina David.
Al termine del convegno, i partecipanti saranno invitati a prender parte alla cerimonia di svelamento dello Scudo Blu, simbolo internazionale di protezione dei beni culturali dai rischi dei conflitti armati, all’Ex Monastero di Sant’Agostino, sede dell’Università degli Studi di Bergamo. L’apposizione dello Scudo Blu è una delle azioni concrete e proattive individuate dalla convenzione dell’Aja del 1954 per la protezione dei beni culturali dai rischi dei conflitti armati, oggetto del convegno del mattino.
Nel pomeriggio, è previsto il workshop teorico e pratico "La fotografia dei beni culturali", con i coach di Canon Italia, partner culturale del progetto “Uno Scudo per la cultura”. Partendo dal presupposto che, specie grazie all’uso degli smartphone, la fotografia può oggi essere considerata un capillare strumento per veicolare la conoscenza dei beni culturali, il workshop avrà un approccio didattico e didascalico e sarà l’occasione per imparare tecniche di base e curiosità per la resa ottimale dell’immagine dei monumenti. Saranno invitati al workshop i partecipanti al convegno, oltre che appassionati di fotografia ed operatori dei beni culturali che vorranno seguire l’iniziativa (fino ad esaurimento posti).
Programma
08.30-09.00 Apertura registrazioni
09:00-09:20 Saluti istituzionali
09:30-12:15 Interventi dei relatori Coordina Maria Paola Pasini Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
09:30 09:45 Introduzione e cenni di Diritto internazionale umanitario Costanza Arcuri Croce Rossa Italiana - Comitato di Bergamo Hinterland
09:45-10:00 Ruolo della Croce Rossa Italiana e progetto "Il futuro ha una lunga storia. Proteggiamola" Michele Romeo Jasinski Focal point campagna nazionale "Il futuro ha una lunga storia. Proteggiamola"
10:00-10:15 La Croce Rossa come modello per il pronto soccorso di monumenti, biblioteche e musei danneggiati durante la Seconda guerra mondiale Carlotta Coccoli Università degli Studi di Brescia
10:15-10:30 Le soprintendenze e lo scudo blu A cura di Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le province di Bergamo e Brescia
10:30-10:50 Pausa
10:50-11:20 La salvaguardia dei beni culturali in attività di protezione civile Elsa Boemi Scuola Superiore di Protezione Civile di Regione Lombardia
11:20 - 11:35 Competenze del Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco nella salvaguardia dei beni culturali Massimo Tarabini Vice comandante designato dal Comando Vigili del Fuoco della Provincia di Sondrio
11:35 - 11:50 Il ruolo dell’Arma dei Carabinieri nella tutela del patrimonio culturale e la cooperazione con i “Caschi Blu della cultura” nelle aree di crisi per eventi sismici o di conflitto nel mondo. A cura di Nucleo Carabinieri T.P.C.
11:50 - 12:05 Per un «patrimonio di tutti i popoli del mondo: la tutela giuridica internazionale fra pace e cultura Elisabetta Fusar Poli Università degli Studi di Brescia
12:05 - 12:15 Conclusioni e ringraziamenti Maurizio Bonomi Croce Rossa Italiana – Comitato di Bergamo Carolina David Croce Rossa Italiana – Comitato di Brescia
12:15 - 12:45 Svelamento dello Scudo Blu all’ex Monastero di Sant’Agostino Interventi di Croce Rossa Italiana e Istituzioni
14:30 - 17:30 La fotografia dei beni culturali. Workshop teorico e pratico A cura di docenti di Canon Academy
per il convegno, l’iscrizione avviene attraverso il link
per informazioni info@scudoperlacultura.it
*Accreditato al rilascio di 4 CFP per gli Architetti P.P.C. Iscrizione su piattaforma portaleservizi.cnappc.it
Dmitry E. Rybolovlev,Freeport,Leonardo da Vinci,money laundering,Mossack Fonseca,Panama Papers,Ports Franc,Salvator Mundi,tax fraud,Yves Bouvier
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Dmitry E. Rybolovlev,Freeport,Leonardo da Vinci,money laundering,Mossack Fonseca,Panama Papers,Ports Franc,Salvator Mundi,tax fraud,Yves Bouvier
No comments
