What motivated Schøyen? The desire to build a unique collection. And, he admits, "the thrill of the chase." But gradually something happened to him, he says. Now it is responsibility to posterity that motivates him. Or to fill in the occasional gap in one of his collections. It is no longer the thrill of the chase. As Schøyen's collections grew, so did his interests—and they went back earlier and earlier in time. Soon he was looking not only for early Bibles, but for cuneiform tablets; even the Dead Sea Scrolls were not old enough for him. The history of writing has become one of his specialties. His collection includes the earliest examples of Sumerian proto- cuneiform pictographic writing, Egyptian proto-hieroglyphic writing, Chinese characters and Indus Valley script. He notes that all four of these writing systems developed along rivers—Sumerian cuneiform along the Tigris and Euphrates, Egyptian hieroglyphs along the Nile, Chinese characters along the Yangtse and Hwang Ho, and Indus Valley script along the Indus River. The development of alphabetic script occurred, however, in riverless Canaan, and Schøyen also has examples of this—two 14th-century B.C. tablets in alphabetic cuneiform from Ugarit. Schøyen has one pre-3000 B.C. clay tablet that records an order for barley placed by the brewery of the Inanna temple in Uruk (modern Iraq). The center of the tablet face shows an ear of barley; reading from right to left, we then see the brewery—a mudbrick structure with a chimney on top—and a bottle or jar of beer with the barley inside. Above the jar is the signature of one Kushin, the official in charge of the brewery. Other marks denote the amount of barley and the span of time over which it is to be delivered.
Among the more unusual "texts" in Schøyen's collection is a small bronze branding iron once applied to the foreheads of runaway slaves. In Old Babylonian cuneiform, dating to the beginning of the second millennium B.C., it reads, "I am his slave." While cuneiform texts describing the branding of slaves are known, this is the only actual cuneiform branding iron ever discovered. The ever-popular Gilgamesh epic is not only the world's oldest literary work of any length, it also includes details of a flood story that were incorporated into the Biblical account in Genesis. The Gilgamesh epic has survived in copies from a number of different periods, but Schøyen has the oldest—a Sumerian version from about the 19th century B.C. Two later tablets in his collection also contain parts of the Mesopotamian flood story. Another tablet in his collection contains part of the earliest known law code, 300 years before Hammurabi's. Hammurabi ruled Babylonia from 1792 to 1750 B.C.; since his law code was discovered in 1901, parts of older law codes have been unearthed—including the laws of the city of Eshnunna, which date to about 1800 B.C., and the laws of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin, dating to about 1930 B.C. The Sumerian Ur-Nammu Code in the Schøyen Collection takes us even farther back, to King Shulgi's reign—2095-2047 B.C. Parts of eight of the original ten columns of text have survived. We might expect the earliest code to be the most primitive, but that's not so. Unlike the crude lex talionis (law of retaliation) incorporated in Hammurabi's Code and in the Bible—"life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise" (Exodus 21:24-25)—the law of Ur-Nammu, like more modern legal systems, provides only for compensation to a wronged party: "If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out one-half a mina of silver." Schøyen wondered aloud whether the Bible would have been different had the Biblical writer read the clay cylinder the collector held in his hand. The great ziggurat of Babylon, on which the Biblical Tower of Babel is probably based, was restored and enlarged by Nebuchadnezzar II (ruled 605-562 B.C.), the same king who destroyed Jerusalem, including Solomon's Temple, in 586 B.C. Alexander the Great in turn partly destroyed Babylon's ziggurat on a campaign to the east in 323 B.C. Until Robert Koldewey's German excavation in the early part of this century, we had only literary descriptions of the tower; but Koldewey not only excavated what remained of the ziggurat, but also found, in levels associated with the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, a small black stone stela that depicts Nebuchadnezzar's restored and enlarged edifice. Koldewey found the stela broken in three pieces; the upper two—the most important pieces—are now in the Schøyen Collection. (The third part is believed to be somewhere in the United States; Schøyen would like to acquire it.)
The upper two pieces of the stela show a profile of the ziggurat with seven clearly marked steps, as well as what looks like a temple complex at the base. This may be the very temple Koldewey excavated south of the ziggurat. Also pictured on the stela is Nebuchadnezzar himself, holding a spear in his left hand and, in his right, an architectural plan for rebuilding the tower. At the top of the stela is a plan showing the outer walls and interior layout of the temple that was to be rebuilt on top of the ziggurat. The surviving cuneiform inscription clearly identifies the edifice: "The Foundation of Heaven and Earth, Ziggarat in Babylon." Just to put the icing on the cake, Schøyen also has a brick from the tower inscribed with the Babylonian ruler's name! The seven-line inscription reads "Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, guardian of the temples Esagila and Ezida, firstborn son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon." The Bible tells us that the Tower of Babel, like the real ziggurat of Babylon, was constructed of bricks rather than stone and that the bricks were held together by bitumen—asphalt or tar—rather than mortar (Genesis 11:1-9). Schøyen's brick still has traces of bitumen on the back. Less than three percent of the Schøyen Collection has been published. But, consistent with the obligation he feels to be a responsible collector, Schøyen has plans to remedy that. He intends to publish a series of volumes that will in effect make the collection public. Approximately half—more than 6,000 items—have already been assigned to world-class scholars. The first two folio volumes—the first on newly discovered Buddhist manuscripts and the second on Coptic papyri—are now out. Schøyen anticipates that the series will eventually include between 40 and 50 volumes—more even than the official series of volumes in which the Dead Sea Scrolls are published.* The Schøyen Collection also includes more than 40 fragments from six different Dead Sea Scrolls, including the Biblical books of Joshua and Daniel, the Qumran sect's Manual of Discipline and the Genesis Apocryphon. Schøyen would dearly love to acquire an intact scroll. He has never seen one, aside from the well-known ones that have been published and are publicly owned. Despite the rumors that have circulated about such a scroll (or scrolls) existing in private hands, he has followed all the leads and they have all turned out to be "ghosts." Of one well-known scholar's worldwide search for more scrolls, Schøyen says that "all he did was raise a lot of dust." Yet Schøyen cannot dismiss the idea that there may yet be some scrolls locked away in a vault, increasing in value each passing day.
Schøyen insists, however, that he does not buy looted objects. And while he will try to get the "best price" at auction or from a dealer, if he is purchasing from a private party who does not know the value of what is offered for sale, he will pay the fair market value. That provision is included in his own published code of ethics. A devout churchman, he says it is the Christian thing to do. Even at a public auction, Schøyen will not bid against a national library or a public museum; only when the institution drops out of the bidding will he enter the lists. He will, however, purchase a looted item if a museum or scholar asks him to "rescue" it. As for the looting problem, Schøyen says it would be solved if every country adopted a law that assured the finder of unexcavated antiquities the fair market price for what is dug up, provided he or she notifies the authorities of the find and the site is then scientifically excavated. Up to half of the objects discovered on the site could be taken by the government, but the finder would be paid fair market value even for those items. The balance of the objects would go to the finder, who would be free to keep or sell them.
At 61, Martin Schøyen is at the height of his powers. But he is already thinking of the inevitable. At one time, he would have been satisfied to have his collection auctioned off piece by piece, giving each new owner the pleasure he had in owning the object. Now he is thinking of his responsibility to the public. His collection, he has decided, will remain together. And it will remain together not as a gift, but as a sale. Already museums are coming to him, not the other way around. He rattles off the four great museums in London, Paris, Rome and New York—the British Museum, the Louvre, the Vatican and the Metropolitan—that would outshine his own. That is why he does not want his collection to go to any of those four cities. His collection, he says, would put any other city "on the map." It would be the fifth great collection. The current going price for his collection is $110 million. A loyal Norwegian, Schøyen would clearly like the collection to remain in Norway if proper arrangements, including exhibition rooms, can be made. For most of his life, Schøyen was a bachelor. He married five years ago, but he and his wife have no children. So what will happen to the proceeds from the sale of the collection? It will go into a charitable foundation he has set up, the Martin Schøyen Foundation for Human Rights. Human rights is defined in the broadest possible terms—from curing diseases to protecting the environment, from ensuring freedom from gender discrimination to eradicating political suppression and terrorism.
Clearly, Schøyen is thinking about the future almost as much as about the past.
For more on the Schøyen Collection, see http://www.schoyen.net.
http://www.bib-arch.org/
From: "Simon Mackenzie" smackzz@hotmail.com
Subject: Antiquities Research - New York, London, Bangkok, Hong Kong Date
sent: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 13:53:40 +1000Dear Subscribers,
I would like to extend an open invitation to readers based in New York, London, Bangkok and Hong Kong to take part in a research project concerning the antiquities trade. I am a doctoral student at the University of Melbourne and am undertaking a research project to which I very much hope some readers will be able to contribute. The project is an investigation of the issue of 'looted antiquities' through a series of interviews, both within Australia and internationally, with dealers, collectors, auction houses and museums. The interviews take the form of a discussion of current practices in the trade and the issues they create, together with an analysis of the effectiveness of current systems of trade regulation (broadly and in no particular order: import/export laws, criminal statutes, international conventions, source country legislation and forms of self-regulation at the market end). As readers will be aware, much has been written by the archaeological lobby on the matter of looting, and their worthy concern with the prevention of looting and the protection of context is now reasonably well documented. My project seeks to answer the regulatory question 'what can the market do effectively to protect sites against plunder'? and therefore seeks to enlist the co-operation of galleries, museums, auctioneers and collectors (particularly in New York and London) in order to work out regulatory solutions which will work towards a form of market regulation which supports the trade in licit antiquities (ie properly provenanced and archaeologically excavated) artefacts, while operating to control the flow of looted antiquities on to the market. I proceed on the basis that much of the past and current legal developments have been implemented with little or no input from antiquity dealers, and that obtaining the views of these trade members on the 'looting issue' is a fundamental precursor to any discussion about appropriate measures to be taken in resolving the problem. I am aware from my discussions with commercial galleries that antiquity dealers and collectors sometimes feel that the debate is weighted against them and that their voices are not heard. This project aims to remedy that. I would therefore like to invite interested persons in New York, London, Bangkok and Hong Kong to contact me either by mail, fax or email on the numbers below to arrange an interview. Interviews will last for around one hour and can be entirely confidential if that is the subject's wish. I have copies of documentation here which I can send to those who wish to participate by email or fax, which explain the interview process and issues such as confidentiality a bit further. I will be in New York in November 2002, London in December 2002 and Bangkok and Hong Kong in January 2003, to conduct the interviews. In the development of laws which are to affect a trade, legislators would do well to begin by speaking with the body of people which comprises that trade in order to access their views/complaints/desires so that when solutions are formulated, they take into account the needs of the trade. I hope that many of this bulletin's readers will welcome the opportunity to have an input into the future development of the market. In the interest of obtaining views which are representative of a large number of those in the market, it is hoped that a high number of dealers, collectors, museums and auctioneers will agree to interview. If anyone requires any further information before they agree to interview, please just ask. I look forward to hearing from you.
With best wishes,
Simon Mackenzie.
Dept of Criminology University of Melbourne Victoria 3010
f: +61 (0) 3 9349 4259
e: s.mackenzie@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
from ConsDisList
From: Mark Hingley mark.hingley.nro@norfolk.gov.uk
Subject: Preparing materials for freeze-drying
I agree with Soren Ibsen's views on a simple approach to preparation of materials for freezing. Cardboard boxes are cheap, strong and most important, vapour permeable. There are though a few points to bear in mind.If the materials are to be treated individually direct from the frozen state, wrapping might be unnecessary. If, however, a large number of items are frozen and then dried in a low pressure chamber, distortion can occur. This is the case in particular if volumes are not restrained. The contraction of parchment and vellum bindings is, as one might expect, considerable and can tear joints badly, but this can happen with any material combination. In many cases the contamination from flood waters and the migration of solubles in the materials themselves will make a complete dismantling, washing, stabilisation and rebinding necessary, but damage in drying chambers as a result of dimensional changes should be minimised anyway. One of the effects of low pressure drying is the production of a characteristic line of concentrated(dried)solutes a couple of centimetres in from the head, tail and fore edge. This is caused by the same physical phenomenon as is chromatography. Even should the water affecting the material have been pure, the effect of deposited, migrated colour will be the same. In conclusion: treatment from the frozen state might be the best option for some categories, but where very large quantities are involved, low pressure drying might be the best. When making the decision, the problems in controlling dimensional stability must be considered and appropriate measures taken.
Mark Hingley, Conservation Section,
Norfolk Record Office,
Norwich, Norfolk, England
ART THEFT INCREASES IN AFRICA
Organised criminal groups are stealing an increasing number of art treasures from Africa and are placing them for sale in apparently legitimate channels in western art auctions.Ancient art treasures from Nigeria, Egypt, Burkina Faso and Mali have inexplicably disappeared, appearing in catalogues in London and Paris auction houses. With an absence of documentation, it is extremely difficult to ascertain as to whether a piece is legitimate or not. Sotheby’s, for instance, insists that it is the onus of the seller to make sure that pieces have been legally exported and assume no responsibility in cases of illegality. Since Napoleon’s time, Egypt has been subjected to plundering of its national heritage, and even recently, a top New York dealer was jailed for being implicated in robberies of historical artefacts from Egypt. However, it is not only objects from Ancient Egypt that are attracting the dealers. The ancient civilisations of Ghana (8th to 12th centuries), Mali (12th to 15th centuries), Songhay (15th to 16th centuries) and Benin (16th to 19th centuries) produced wonderful works in gold and precious stones which make these countries the centre of attention for criminal organisations with international contacts. The huge commercial value for objects whose value is not understood by impoverished rural populations, members of whom are only too happy to make easy money by selling what they consider as useless decorative objects to outsiders willing to part with good money. Coupled with widespread corruption among local officials, habituated to a culture of commissions, it is not difficult for a determined dealer to obtain a wealth of important art treasures, to the detriment of the cultural patrimony of the host nation.
The best way to clamp down on this illegal activity would be for a more careful inspection of applications for licences to carry out archaeological digs in areas where there are known to have been important finds. At an international level, there is a UN Convention, the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property”, established in 1970. However, while the west African countries mentioned, along with Egypt, Spain, Greece and France, are members, the three countries where most illegal trading is carried out – the USA, UK and Germany – are not and have refused to join for the last thirty years.
http://english.pravda.ru/
Paintings stolen during robbery
A number of paintings have been stolen from the home of a pensioner in east Belfast. The 79-year-old woman was on holiday at the time. The police said a substantial sum of money was taken. Jewellery and electrical goods were also taken during the raid at the house on the Upper Braniel Road.http://news.bbc.co.uk/
How the hunt for £5m Titian ended with an old man, a bag and a bus
stop By Chris GrayIt took a Vietnam veteran turned private art detective seven years to find it, but after a succession of false leads, the trail of a stolen £5m Renaissance masterpiece finally led to an anonymous bus-stop in the London suburbs. Titian's Rest on the Flight to Egypt, which vanished in a raid on the Marquess of Bath's Longleat home in 1995, was discovered last week in a red, white and blue plastic shopping bag at a bus stop in Richmond, south-west London. Charles Hill, 56, a former head of Scotland Yard's art and antiques unit, was led to the spot near his offices after being approached by a man he described as a cross between Arthur Daley and Lovejoy. The man had offered to take Mr Hill to the 16th-century masterpiece in return for an offered £100,000 reward. Mr Hill drove the contact around Richmond and was told to pull up where an old man was standing next to the shopping bag.
"There it is," said the Arthur Daley figure. Inside the bag, Mr Hill found the 2ft-wide artwork wrapped in cardboard, without a frame, but undamaged. Yesterday the painting showing the Virgin Mary cradling Jesus as an infant was displayed in public for the first time since it disappeared from the wall of Longleat's state drawing room where it took pride of place. It was the most historically important painting at Longleat as well as the most popular with visitors. Lord Bath called it a tragedy when thieves stole it from his Wiltshire estate. They had disabled floodlights out- side his home, propped a ladder against the wall, smashed a window to get in and escaped while alarm bells rang around them. Lord Bath was desperate to stop the thieves destroying a painting bought by his great-grandfather, the 4th marquess, and he made repeated appeals for its return. Its provenance made it impossible to sell and the marquess was at first optimistic he would get it back, but after a year he appeared to give up hope and accepted £1m from his insurers.
But Mr Hill, now security adviser to the Historic Houses Association, and Longleat staff continued to follow dozens of leads, some coming from behind bars, as well as consulting a medium. One early lead involved a prisoner who was recaptured after escaping from Erlestoke jail at Devizes, Wiltshire, the Christmas before the Longleat raid. He was questioned about that raid as well as more than 100 break-ins at country houses. But the trail appeared to have gone cold until June when Mr Hill turned for help to a convicted art criminal, David Duddin. Mr Duddin, 56, was jailed for handling Rembrandt's Mother, a £5m painting stolen from the Earl of Pembroke in November 1994, a theft initially linked to the Longleat burglary. After serving half of a nine-year sentence he was paroled and agreed to help, claiming he had become "quite close" to the thieves and promising to contact them via an advert in Exchange & Mart. "These people are more likely to read that than they are The Spectator," he said. Mr Duddin was widely assumed to be Mr Hill's informant, but yesterday Longleat's general manager Tim Moore, described claims that the £100,000 reward had gone to him as "total rubbish". He said: "Mr Hill did speak to David Duddin, but he was not the crucial informant." Mr Hill, born in Britain, moved to Washington as a child and joined the US Army as a teenager, fighting in Vietnam. He said the breakthrough came after he discussed the case on radio four months ago. "A man contacted me and I went to talk to him. He said, 'Are you interested in getting the Titian back? I think I can help'. To our surprise he said he would be able to do it if he got the reward." Alexander Hope, a Christie's art expert, said he was delighted that what he called a "major milestone in Western art" had been returned intact. "Lord Bath may want to get a restorer to look at it for cosmetic affect, but it is completely unharmed," he said. "Its condition is pretty much as it was when it was taken off the wall at Longleat."
There are now just two loose ends. Lord Bath will have to pay back the £1m insurance money, and he remains short of two paintings, a 16th century portrait of Eleanor of Austria, attributed to the circle of Joos Van Cleeve, and A Personification of Justice, by Bonifazio De Pitai, also taken in the burglary. One other mystery remains. The identity of the Arthur Daley character believed to have collected the £100,000 reward was not revealed.
http://news.independent.co.uk/