Subject: FW: Theft from beach house in Naples, Florida, USA.
Date sent: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 13:51:40 -0500 Priority: Urgent From: "Katherine M. Dugdale" kdugdale@alrny.com
Theft from beach house in Naples, Florida, USA.
The following paintings were removed from a private residence in Naples, Florida on 28 December 2003. Please find images and descriptions below.
Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) Vétheuil, vu de l'île Saint-Martin Signed and dated 'Claude Monet 79' Oil on canvas 23 ¾ x 31 ¼ in. (60.4 x 79.4 cm.) Painted in Vétheuil, 1880
Pierre-August Renoir Place de la Trinité Signed 'Renoir' (lower left) Oil on canvas 21 3/8 x 25 7/8 in. (53.8 x 64.6 cm.) Painted in 1893
If you have any information leading to the recovery of these works please contact:
The Art Loss Register Inc., 20 East 46th Street, Suite 1402 New York, NY 10017 USA Tel: (212) 297-0941 Fax: (212) 972-5091 info@alrny.com www.artloss.com
Image: [http://www.artloss.com/newsimg.asp?Code=102] Caption: Pierre-August Renoir - Place de la Trinité & Claude Monet - Vétheuil, vu de l'île Saint-Martin
Date sent: Thu, 09 Jan 2003 14:14:43 -0800 From: "REGINALD JACKSON" 22462@lapd.lacity.org To: securma@xs4all.nl
Subject: LAPD Crime Alert
LAPD's Burglary-Auto Theft Division is seeking information about stolen vintage and royal jewelry from the Powell Collection that is further described on its website at the following link: http://www.lapdonline.com/organization/ohb/dsg/bad/ca_03_0804188_stolen_jewelry/ca_030804188_main.htm
If you have information about this jewelry or crime, please contact Detective Reggie Jackson at:
(213) 485-2524 or by email at: 22462@lapd.lacity.org
Information on other crimes as well as descriptions of stolen antiques and collectibles can be accessed at: http://www.lapdonline.org
Thank you for your assistance.
from ConsDisList
From: Laramie Hickey-Friedman lhickey-friedman@menil.org
Subject: Fire suppression systems
This query is forwarded from our Grounds and Security Department. I will pass along the comments and discussion. Thank you.
I would like to ask any museums who have recently been built (or currently under construction) or who have recently undergone major renovations which fire suppression system they have chosen to install. If it's gas, which one? If a sprinkler system, wet or dry pipe? And, of course, why this chosen method? We are currently replacing our Halon system and any feedback is appreciated. Also, if any museums have already replaced their Halon systems we'd love to hear which system they choose and why. Kelly Pike Building, Grounds and Security The Menil Collection kpike@menil.org
Laramie Hickey-Friedman Sculpture Conservator The Menil Collection
Chile investigating Easter Island monoliths at Miami art gallery
Wed Jan 8, 4:00 PM ET
MIAMI - An art gallery trying to sell two of Easter Island's gigantic, mystifying monoliths for a collector has been told by Chilean authorities that the sculptures may have been taken illegally from the Pacific isle, or they may be fakes. But the owner says they were acquired more than 90 years ago before the Chilean government assumed custody of antiquities from Easter Island, and he received official permission in 2001 to move his collection from Chile to America. The Chilean agency responsible for preserving and monitoring national monuments began an investigation this week of the pieces at Cronos Art in Miami, saying the government has never authorized any shipments from the island, 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) west of South America in the Pacific. "There is no permission for articles to leave Easter Island for mainland Chile, nor Chile to a foreign country," Mario Vasquez, an archaeologist for the Council of National Monuments, said Tuesday. Vasquez said the stone heads, known as "moais," could be reproductions carved by well-known Easter Island artisan Juan Pakarati. If they are real, they were made centuries ago to represent the Easter Islanders' gods and chieftains. According to Chilean law, since 1925 all historic objects on Easter Island are under the custody of the government. For the pieces in the Miami collection to be considered private property, they must have been acquired before then. The collector, Hernan Garcia de Gonzalo Vidal, says one of his uncles obtained the pieces in 1912, according to a press kit released by Cronos Art.
"To the best of our knowledge, the data contained in it reflects only the most accurate information that has been researched and verified," said Cronos Art's president and director, Jose Manuel Perez Marti, in a statement Tuesday. He said he would not elaborate because of the Chilean investigation. The Chilean agency is planning to send an expert to Miami "as soon as possible" to examine the pieces, Vasquez told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The moais, the largest of which weighs more than two tons and stands nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters) high, have been on display since early December. Gallery spokesman Jim Power said he and his client have not been contacted by the Chilean government and only learned of the investigation from a newspaper in Santiago. Power said Garcia and Perez would not be speaking to the media. Garcia is an island researcher who was once a vice minister in the military government of former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet (news - web sites). He received permission from the Chilean agency in 2001 to move the collection from his home in Santiago to Miami, according to the press kit released by the gallery for the debut of the collection last month. According to the press kit, one of Garcia's uncles was given several stone moai in 1912 when a Chilean merchant ship he was traveling on stopped for supplies on Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui in the local language. He acquired the statues for helping island residents develop the local economy and raising funds to build a hospital and a museum to display Easter Island treasures, according to the gallery.
January 9, 2003
A Stolen Buddha Head Finds Its Way Back Home
By CELESTINE BOHLEN
For 1,300 years the Akshobhya Buddha, one of four large statues of Buddha at the Four Gate Pagoda in China's Shandong Province, sat solemnly looking eastward, face locked in a beatific expression. In 1997, the Buddha lost its head. A gang of thieves, staging the second of two robbery attempts, swaddled the head in blankets and cut its throat with a diamond saw. Next, wielding a sledgehammer, they literally knocked it off its torso. The thieves were caught soon afterward and the ringleader was sentenced to life in prison, but the trail of the 159-pound head itself went cold. The Four Gate Pagoda, built in 611 during the Sui dynasty as part of the Shentong Monastery, was closed to the public as the Chinese government dealt with this embarrassing blow to its efforts to protect a site that had long been a top priority for historic preservation.
That might have been the end of yet another dispiriting tale of cultural vandalism, a plague that has struck China just as it has many other countries. But then, in February 2002, the head of the Akshobhya Buddha turned up in Taiwan, the gift of loyal disciples to the Buddhist master Sheng-yen, the 73-year-old founder of the Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association, based in Taiwan, and also of the Chan Meditation Center in Elmhurst, Queens. Alarmed by the gash in the Buddha's neck, Master Sheng-yen started an investigation. "If there is a head, there must be a torso," was his first thought, as he later described it. He summoned Lin Bao Yao, a scholar at the Taipei National University of Arts, who studied the piece and traced it to Shandong Province in eastern China, and to the Sui dynasty, a precursor to the illustrious Tang dynasty. Experts from Shandong Province were able to confirm that this was the Akshobhya Buddha from the Four Gate Pagoda. Apparently the discovery was something of a shock for inhabitants of the region, who were never told back in 1997 that one of their Buddhas was missing its head. The scholarly police work was a stroke of luck for the Akshobhya Buddha, whose name in Sanskrit means "imperturbable." For Master Sheng-yen, whose worldwide movement of a reported one million disciples is dedicated to the protection of the spiritual environment, it was, as he said later, like "winning the lottery." "I was so happy," said Master Sheng-yen, who was born in China but since 1978 has lived mostly in New York and has opened a retreat in Pine Bush, upstate. "If it had not been presented to us as a gift, maybe it would have been another 200 years before it went back to its place of origins." On Dec. 17, in a ceremony that cast a faint but warm glow on the otherwise frosty relations between Taiwan and the People's Republic, the Akshobhya Buddha was solemnly returned to its torso — this time affixed to the shoulders by a steel rod, in part to prevent future thefts. The event was front-page news on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Experts say that antiquities theft in China surfaced as a widespread problem only in the last 20 years, as local inhabitants learned of the value of ancient objects, some excavated illegally and some taken from their own homes. He Shuzhong of the National Administration on Cultural Heritage in Beijing said in a recent article that the route for smuggled antiquities passes through most large Chinese cities, with Hong Kong considered the main staging area. "It is an issue of concern," Master Sheng-yen said. "The main problem is poverty, of course, but another problem is attitude, which is why it is so important to educate people." Master Sheng-yen, who was awarded an honorary certificate by the Four Gate Pagoda Scenery Spot Preservation Committee for his act, made a point of traveling with the head on the plane and then the bus that returned it home, turning down an offer of his own limousine. On the same trip, Master Sheng- yen visited the National Religion Bureau in Beijing, where he suggested that the Four Gate Pagoda — which under China's Communist government has largely been a tourist site — should again become a religious shrine, as was intended when it was built by the monks who helped bring Buddhism to China from India, via central Asia. The return of the Buddha, he said, was not just a cultural event but part of a dialogue that is the core of Buddhist faith and belief. "As a religious leader, I believe I have played a role as a bridge between the two sides, in helping the interaction in a civilian way," he said, speaking through a translator. Both governments were supportive of the transfer, he added. Restoring the integrity of the original statue, with its distinctly Oriental features — representative of a short, transitional period in Chinese Buddhist art — was more important than keeping it in Taiwan at his center for the teaching of Buddhism, he said. The head had originally been bought by a group of Taiwanese businessmen, who wanted to donate it to Dharma Drum Mountain for its future Museum of Buddhist History and Culture. No one has yet figured out where the head was in the years after it was stolen, although Master Sheng-yen said several local officials lost their jobs after the theft was discovered. He said some experts had suggested that the head went from China to Japan and from there to art markets in Europe and then to Taiwan, where it was handled by a local antiquities dealer. It is not known whether the dealer has been questioned by the authorities.
The dealer said he knew nothing about the head's origins, Master Sheng-yen said. Apparently, the head of the Akshobhya Buddha was singled out because the other Buddhas in the pagoda had been damaged. "This one was the best preserved," Master Sheng-yen said. So far, Master Sheng-yen said, he has not been able to find out from his disciples how much they paid for the head, but he said he had heard estimates as high as $1.5 million. Experts on Buddhist art said that sculpture from the Sui (pronounced sway) dynasty was rare, since it lasted only from 581 to 618, but that prices could vary considerably.
http://www.nyt.com/
Museum theft bid is foiled
A BUNGLING thief triggered a series of alarms during a botched bid to break into the People's Palace in Glasgow. Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that Ross McLeod, 22, was caught by police minutes after forcing his way into the museum on Glasgow Green. McLeod, of Bridgeton, broke in to neighbouring Winter Gardens, setting off an alarm. He was also seen on CCTV by security guards. However, rather than flee, the would-be thief broke windows and kicked in doors leading to the People's Palace, setting off more alarms. The court heard that McLeod, a drug addict, tried to force open an empty till. Police were on the scene within five minutes and arrested him. McLeod was found guilty of breaking and entering the premises on Friday, January 3. He was released on remand for a drugs counselling report.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/
from ConsDisList:
From: Jeremy Wells wellsj@myrealbox.com
Subject: Fire suppression systems
Laramie Hickey-Friedman lhickey-friedman@menil.org, on behalf of Kelly Pike, writes
... Also, if any museums have already replaced their Halon systems we'd love to hear which system they choose and why.
I would highly recommend that you look into water mist fire suppression. It uses 10% as much water as normal sprinklers and has properties similar to a gas in that fine water particles are able get into small cracks and crevices within a room. In addition, the piping is flexible and takes up less space than a conventional sprinkler system.
Gas suppression only works well in very tight, sealed rooms with low ceilings that do not normally have windows and doors open to other rooms or to outside spaces. Inergen (a mixture of inert gasses) is usually preferred by most fire suppression specialists due to its low toxicity and relatively good fire suppression characteristics.
I recently did a research project on this topic and would recommend the following resources:
Alderson, Caroline and Nick Artim. "Fire-Safety Retrofitting: Innovative Solutions for Ornamental Building Interiors." APT Bulletin, vol. 31, no. 2-3 (2000): 26-32.
"Alternatives to Halon for Special Fire Hazard Fire Protection." HARC News (Halon Alternatives Research Corporation). URL:http://www.harc.org/harcnews.html
-------. "An Introduction to Fire Detection, Alarm, and Automatic Fire Sprinklers." Northeast Document Conservation Center Technical Leaflet: Emergency Management, section 3, leaflet 2. URL:http://www.nedcc.org/plam3/tleaf32.htm
NFPA 909: Code for the Protection of Cultural Resources. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association, 2001.
NFPA 914: Recommended Practice for Fire Protection in Historic Structures. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association, 1994.
Mawhinney, Jack and Christian Dubay. "Water Mist: What Is It?" NFPA Journal (Jul/Aug 1999): 26-30.
Roban reliquias del siglo XIX en un convento porteño
Se trata de cuatro candelabros de bronce que pertenecen al Patrimonio Histórico Nacional. Tienen alto valor en el mercado de los coleccionistas.
Valiosas reliquias del siglo diecinueve, que eran conservadas en la iglesia del convento de la congregación religiosa “Hijas del Divino Salvador”, ubicado en el barrio porteño de Montserrat, fueron robadas ayer en circunstancias pocos claras. Los investigadores informaron que las reliquias robadas son de alto valor para coleccionistas ya que pertenecen al Patrimonio Histórico Nacional.
Voceros del lugar informaron que los ladrones, tras cortar con una sierra las rejas de una de las entradas, ingresaron a la iglesia "Jesús Nazareno" y robaron cuatro candelabros de bronce, fabricados en el 1800, y numerosas plaquetas de plata y bronce que dejan familias agradecidas.
El 23 de febrero pasado, contó la religiosa, delincuentes robaron costosas reliquias, sables y espadas que adornaban una de las vitrinas del templo.
La religiosa informó que en esa oportunidad debió insistir reiteradas veces a la policía de la comisaría de la zona para que les tome la denuncia.
Una de las religiosas dijo que en otra oportunidad ella misma detuvo a un joven que, tras saltar el enrejado, intentó robar un crucifico y una imagen de Cristo. "Lo tuve arrodillado un buen tiempo pero como la policía no venía lo tuve soltar”, contó la anciana religiosa.
http://old.clarin.com/diario/2003/01/09/um/m-500818.htm
automated translation:
They rob relics of century XIX in a Buenosairean convent
One is four bronze candelabra that belong to the National Historical Patrimony. They have stop value in the market of the collectors.
Valiosas relics of century nineteen, that were conserved in the church of the convent of the religious congregation "Daughters of the Divine Salvador", located in the Buenosairean district of Montserrat, were robbed yesterday in circumstances few clear ones. The investigators informed that the robbed relics are of high value for collectors since they belong to the National Historical Patrimony.
Spokesmen of the place informed that the thieves, after cutting with a mountain range the grates of one of the entrances, entered to the church "Jesus Nazareno" and robbed four bronze candelabra, made in the 1800, and numerous plaquetas of silver and bronze that leave thanked for families. 23 of February the last, he counted the nun, delinquents robbed expensive relics, sabers and swords that adorned one of the display cabinets of the temple.
The nun informed that on that opportunity she had to insist repeated times to the police of the police station of the zone so that takes the denunciation them.
One of the nuns said that in another opportunity she herself stopped a young person who, after jumping the grating, tried to rob a crucifico and an image of Christ. "I had It made kneel a good time but as the police did not come I had it to loosen", the old nun counted.
Historic Far North museum destroyed by fire
- Maxwell's Cottage too remote for firefighters to reach in time
12 January 2003
An historic museum has burnt to the ground in Northland.
Fire Services were called to Maxwell's Cottage in the Waipoua Forest north of Dargaville around 3:30 this morning. Because of its remote location, fire fighters weren't able to arrive in time to save the cottage. The cottage was built for James Maxwell, who was the forest's caretaker between 1906 and 1920. It's since been used as a museum displaying relics from the kauri timber trade.
"IRTE Director tries to export Rama, Shiva", lands in CBI net
New Delhi,Sunday, January 12, 2003: CBI has registered a case against the Director of the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) here and a Sydney-based Indian national on charges of trying to illegally export rare antique idols of Lord Rama, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati to Australia.
In its FIR registered recently, the probe agency has named as accused IRTE Director Sharfuddin and one S K Lall, who is presently settled in Sydney in Australia, CBI sources told PTI. A joint team of CBI and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had conducted a surprise check at Lall's New Friends Colony house here in August last and recovered four bronze idols- one each of Lord Rama, Lord Shiva, Lord Shiva in Tandav Mudra and Goddess Parvati, they said. The idols were seized after Sharfuddin, who was allegedly authorised to export the objects, failed to produce any documents showing legal acquisition, possession or registration of the said antiques, the sources said. CBI registered the case as the absence of documents relating to legal acquisition, possession and registration of the antiques raised strong suspicion that they might have been stolen from any place of historic importance, archaeological sites, temple, archives or monuments, the sources said. ASI's Deputy Superintending Archaeologist (Customs and Museum) K Ludu Swamy, who inspected the seized idols, had also opined that prima facie they appeared to be "Registrable Antiquities", the sources said. Lall had allegedly authorised the IRTE Director to get clearance from ASI for exporting the idols to Australia and Sharfuddin had been trying to seek export clearance from ASI for sending these objects to Australia for last one and a half years, the sources said. He had allegedly informed the CBI-ASI joint team that the idols were not registered with ASI and claimed that same were not antiques. The case registered under various provisions of IPC and Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972, has been assigned for investigation, the sources said.
http://www.ptinews.com/
Fight for Picasso piece could move to Chicago
Oakland man filed claim in Los Angeles, says painting is his By Glenn Chapman STAFF WRITER
Saturday, January 11, 2003 - An Oakland man's claim to a Pablo Picasso painting stolen by Nazis during World War II should be tossed out of the Los Angeles court where the case was filed, according to lawyers for the woman who has the artwork in her Chicago apartment. In a motion presented to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe on Friday, attorneys for art maven Marilyn Alsdorf contend Chicago is the appropriate setting for Thomas Bennigson to vie for ownership of the 1922 oil painting "Femme en blanc." Bennigson filed a claim to the Picasso after it was put up for sale at David Tunkl Fine Art Gallery in Los Angeles and a prospective buyer determined the artwork was stolen by the Third Reich during its rampage through Europe. Bennigson is the sole heir of a Jewish woman who sent the Picasso to a Paris gallery for safekeeping before fleeing Berlin in 1938 or 1939. Nazi troops invaded France in 1940 and looted the Paris gallery. Alsdorf and her late husband bought the artwork from a New York gallery in 1975 for $357,000. Its value is now estimated at $10 million. Tunkl's attorney, Stephen Bernard, argues Chicago is the proper forum for Bennigson's claim because "Femme en blanc" has been in that city for decades. "Marilyn Alsdorf has every right to have the case heard in her own jurisdiction," Bernard said. "No one is interested in buying or selling the painting until this issue is resolved." Tunkl sent the artwork back to Alsdorf after Bennigson filed his claim in December. Judge Yaffe scheduled a Feb. 7 hearing at which a different judge is to decide whether Los Angeles is a proper legal forum.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/
The Chill From The Friezes
The flap over the Parthenon plunder has the world’s great museums in a stew
By Ariella Budick STAFF WRITER
January 12, 2003
Virtually as long as museums have existed they have held and displayed items acquired unethically, if not illegally. The Louvre's Egyptian antiquities were plundered and brought home by Napoleon's troops. The skeletal remains of Australian Aborigines who had been hunted, boiled and donated to science eventually wound up in the London Natural History Museum, where they remain. Natural history museums all over America house sacred Indian objects taken from their owners without permission.
The most famous case of acquisition is the set of marble friezes from the Parthenon that were removed by Lord Elgin at the beginning of the 19th century and remain lodged - to Greece's ongoing chagrin - in the British Museum.
The Elgin controversy has flared up again, with Greece recently renewing its lobbying for the marbles' return in time for the 2004 Olympic Games. Greece claims - and few, at this point, debate it - that Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, pried the fifth century BC slabs off the Parthenon under shady circumstances. He had the consent of the occupying Turks, whose right to give it seems dubious at best. Greece was already campaigning for their repatriation by 1816, the year Elgin sold his booty to the British Museum.
That the British diplomat saved the marbles from sure destruction is pretty much beyond dispute: The Turks were using them for target practice. So is the fact that over the last couple of centuries the British took better care of them than the Greeks could possibly have afforded to do: The Elgin Marbles reside in climate-controlled splendor in London, secure, well-lit and adequately labeled. But now Greece plans to build a new $40 million museum, and the British have to come up with a new rationale for their claim, something other than the efficient paternalism it has relied on for nearly 200 years. For the moment, the British Museum's director has fallen back on categorical - and tautological - statements that the marbles "cannot be lent to any other museum."
Meanwhile, other museums around the world, quite reasonably worried about the integrity of their own collections, have leapt to the British Museum's defense. A letter recently signed by 18 prominent museum directors (including those of the Metropolitan, the Whitney, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Philadelphia Museum, the Prado, the Louvre and the Getty) argues emphatically for the rights of museums to keep what they have - however ill-gotten - provided it entered the collection a long time ago.
"We should. . . realize that objects acquired in earlier times must be viewed in the light of different sensitivities and values, reflective of the earlier era," the statement reads. "The objects and monumental works that were installed decades and even centuries ago in museums throughout Europe and America were acquired under conditions that are not comparable with current ones. Over time, objects so acquired - whether by purchase, gift or partage [a euphemism for theft] - have become part of the museums that have cared for them."
In other words, the world's great museums' position is that possession is equivalent to a moral right of ownership: Whatever currently resides in a given museum collection belongs there. That's been the governing principle until recently. In the last few years, though, things have begun ever so slightly to change, as some museums have acquiesced to Jewish families demanding the return of artworks expropriated by the Nazis.
Somewhere in the past lies an indeterminate watershed date before which theft of artwork can be condoned. It's not clear what that point is, but as least as far as the Fascist era is concerned, the statute of limitations hasn't yet expired. Italy, for instance, just gave back to Ethiopia an obelisk swiped in 1937, during Mussolini's short-lived imperial adventure. An original owner's moral right may reach back before that, however: A Scottish museum recently relinquished a Sioux ghost-dance shirt worn by a vanquished warrior at the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890.
So, one obvious question is whether the precedents that have already been set apply as far back as the era of empire in the early 19th century. If they did - and if a uniform moral standard were applied - then the entire worldwide system of international museum collections would be in jeopardy. The Hermitage in St. Petersburg eventually might have to give up the Matisses that the Soviet government confiscated from wealthy Russians. The French government might start lobbying for the repatriation of chunks of chateaux and cathedrals vacuumed up from France's impoverished countryside by opportunistic American collectors. Every large museum on the planet is looking anxiously at the future and the possibility of seeing its collections gradually chipped away, glimpsing the endless lawsuits on the horizon.
Clearly, developing an inflexible, universal policy would mean choosing between different forms of injustice. These cases have to be decided individually, and the crucial element is not chronology, but the inherent cultural importance of the work in question. The Greeks' best argument is that the Parthenon marbles are essential to the country's history and identity: Imagine Betsy Ross' flag turning up in a museum in Bucharest and you can begin to know how they feel.
Naturally, the British could make a similar case: Possessing a slice of Greek antiquity speaks to the legacy of empire and scholarship. What's needed is an impartial, international panel of experts empowered by a critical mass of governments and artistic institutions to adjudicate competing claims. "Finders keepers" isn't the answer, but neither is "I had it first."
http://www.newsday.com/
Chance to buy antique ceramic pieces
by Peter Sibon
KUCHING - Avid antique collectors will have the chance of a life time to buy genuine antique ceramic pieces dating back to 1460 AD this Sunday, disclosed the managing director of Nanhai Marine Archaeology Sdn Bhd Mr Sten Sjostrand yesterday. He said every piece on sale (except 'souvenir' pieces) would be accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity verifying age and origin. "Among the items for sale will be some 630-year-old celadon from China, Sisatchanalai celadon dating to 1460 AD and Chinese blue and white porcelains from the late Ming dynasty as well as the mid-19th century," said Sjostrand at a news conference held at a hotel here yesterday. He added that one of the reasons for his company to have these collectors' items for sale here was to share their knowledge and experiences in the field. "We wish to share the knowledge gained from our research and to give Malaysians a first option to buy some provenance ceramics from their own cultural background. It is not fair, as with previous shipwreck cargoes, that all the recoveries are loaded in containers and sent to Amsterdam for sale." He pointed out that as these objects were made by Asians, traded by them and if the ship did not sink, would have been used by Asians. Sjostrand said he preferred to see Asians having the first choice to buy these antiques, adding that he would be presenting a short talk or discussion on each shipwreck during the sale this weekend. "This is a great opportunity for all to learn more about the treasures we never knew existed so close to our shores. So bring along your antique ceramic pieces if you like to have them evaluated which will be free of charge," he said.
Sjostrand, 58, a naval architect by profession, has over 30 years of experience in Asia's ceramic development, ancient shipbuilding and maritime trade. Added to his credit were the discovery of seven historical shipwrecks in South China Sea, dating back to the 14-16th and 19th century. "The shipwreck was discovered in 1994 after four years of search and the last one was discovered in 2001," he disclosed, adding that his company started as a small self-finance enterprise. His works include monographs from Pacific Asia Museum in Los Angeles, exhibition for far Eastern Antiquities Museum in Stockholm and now also producing a catalogue for the Department of Museum and Antiquities in Malaysia.
The special session with Sjostrand will be held at Kingwood Inn on Jan 12 starting at 9 am.
http://www.jaring.my/
Mystery looms over stone heads
Jonathan Franklin in Santiago Saturday January 11, 2003 The Guardian
Two Easter Island stone heads on sale at an art gallery in Miami have brought to light a mystery about their origin. The Chilean government, which claimed the Pacific island in 1888, is investigating whether the pieces are genuine antiques smuggled from Chile or skillful reproductions. An expert on the island's archaeology says they seem to be carved from island stone with modern tools. The Cronos gallery, which is selling them as part of a collection of 15 Easter Island artefacts, says "these rare pieces" were recently revealed to be in the possession of Hernan Garcia Gonzalo de Vidal, whom it inaccurately describes as a former vice- minister of planning in the Chilean government. It has withdrawn its original claim that they are 1,000 and 700 years old and substituted "age unknown."
They weigh 680kg and 952kg respectively.
In Chile Mr Garcia is best known as a senior aide to Augusto Pinochet. Magazines have listed him as one of the former dictator's inner circle. He has worked closely with General Pinochet's former wife Lucia Hiriart de Pinochet. Angel Cabeza, head of the Chilean national monuments committee, said: "We have never authorised the shipping of a private collection of original works from Easter Island. "If Mr Garcia removed these pieces and if these pieces are real, he couldn't have done it with our authorisation. We have never received such a petition." Archaeologists from the committee plan to go to Miami next week to find out if the pieces are authentic. Mr Garcia, meanwhile, has disappeared. After agreeing to an interview with the Chilean daily El Mercurio, which first reported the sale, he issued a statement through Cronos claiming a "family emergency". Patricia Vargas, an archaeologist at the University of Chile's Easter Island institute, doubts that authentic statues were smuggled out of Chile. Before a preservation law was introduced in in 1935, such pieces were routinely taken from the island and are in display in London, Paris and the US. The pieces in Miami, she says, "are made with materials from Easter Island and that alone gives them a certain value. "They might be nice art pieces, but I doubt any one is 500 years old. It appears that the cuts have been made with modern machinery and not with stone tools."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
The Art Newspaper.com
This week's top stories:
LITTLE SUCCESS IN SAVING MAJOR ART
LONDON. On the eve of its 50th anniversary, the UK’s Export Reviewing Committee has issued a stark warning. The committee was set up to protect Britain’s heritage by offering museums and galleries the chance to buy major artworks which would otherwise be exported. “Through a lack of funding, the system has failed totally to achieve this objective,” the reviewing committee admits in its annual report. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10690
WE SERVE ALL CULTURES, SAY THE BIG, GLOBAL MUSEUMS
LONDON. The world’s leading museums have for the first time united to issue a declaration. Their statement on “the importance and value of universal museums” follows increasing concern about the politicisation of Greek claims against the British Museum (BM) over the Parthenon Marbles. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10675
FIRST MUSEUM PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
TURIN. Italy under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has shown itself as ready to privatise its cultural institutions as its State-run businesses. This had its first practical application for a State museum with the publication of the new constitution of Turin’s Egyptian Museum in December. It will be closely watched as the first example of collaboration between the private and public sector in the administration of the Italian State patrimony. Supporters of this move believe that it will lead to the more efficient administration and better use of cultural institutions. Opponents are afraid that the emphasis will now be put on exploiting them financially and that scholarly values will be sacrificed. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10674
EXPORT REVIEWING COMMITTEE DECLARES CROSS A FAKE
LONDON. An Anglo-Saxon cross which was one of the stars of the Grosvenor House fair has now been dismissed as a modern fake. Bond Street gallery Rupert Wace sold the carved cross shaft to an American dealer for over $500,000 (£314,690), and he in turn is currently selling it on to a US museum. The cross therefore required a UK export licence, and it was then that specialists questioned its authenticity. In what has turned out to be an extraordinary case, the Export Reviewing Committee concluded early in December that it dated from the early 20th century. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10672
MANTEGNA AND FRIENDS: OLD MASTERS IN THE JANUARY SALES
NEW YORK. All the Old Master buzz in New York this month is centered on Andrea Mantegna’s The Descent into Limbo which Basia Johnson, the Johnson baby products heiress, has consigned to Sotheby’s for sale on 23 January with an estimate of $20-30 million. Despite the fact that it is one of the last great Renaissance masterpieces remaining outside a museum, and though its strong estimate is justifiable, there are surprisingly few collectors or museums who could conceivably bid. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10671
Anna Somers Cocks, Editor contact@theartnewspaper.com
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GREECE is to return one of its greatest historical treasures to Italy
in return for a small fragment of the Parthenon frieze. The fifth-
century bronze Etruscan helmet is one of two donated to the Temple of
Zeus on Mount Olympus by Hieron, the “Tyrant of Syracuse” in Sicily.
Hieron was giving thanks to the gods for his military victories over
the Etruscans and Carthaginians.
The second helmet, found in 1817, is in the British Museum.
The exchange is likely to revive the vexed issue of the return to
Greece of the Elgin Marbles, although the British Museum has said
that the issues are not related.
In October, Italy said that it would hand back to Greece a 35cm-
square fragment of the statue of the goddess Peitho, which once stood
on the east side of the Parthenon. It has been in a museum at Palermo
since it was removed from Athens in the late 18th century by Robert
Fagan, the British Consul in Sicily and a noted collector, painter
and adventurer.
Giuliano Urbani, the Italian Culture Minister, said that in response
the Greek authorities had pledged to return to Sicily Hieron’s
helmet, which was discovered on Mount Olympus in the 1950s.
The Etruscan helmet was picked up as war booty by Hieron at his
decisive naval battle with the Etruscans at the Greek colony of
Cumae, near Naples, in 474 BC, which halted Etruscan expansion in the
Mediterranean.