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Illicit Antiquities |
In the NewsNeil Brodie |
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In recent months the news has been dominated by the reactions to allegations made by Peter Watson in his book Sotheby's: The Inside Story, subsequently televised as part of the C4 Dispatches series. It was revealed that senior members of Sotheby's staff had been aware of smuggled antiquities from Italy and India being offered for sale in London. In response to a question tabled in the House of Lords the Government re-affirmed its view that the art market should regulate itself and in February Sotheby's named four non-executive directors who were appointed to conduct an internal review of the auction house's working practices. The need for effective self-regulation was also stressed by Joanna van der Lande, the newly elected chairman of the Antiquities Dealers Association and head of Bonhams antiquities department. In June she reaffirmed the need for responsible sections of the trade to isolate themselves from those who transgress the ADA code of practice and also called for better relations between dealers, museums and academics. Dubious dealings were also highlighted during the trial of Jonathan Tokeley-Parry, a dealer who first appeared in court in January to deny three counts of handling stolen antiquities. The trial continued sporadically through the first half of the year until June when Tokeley-Parry was found guilty on two counts of handling artefacts looted from Saqqara, including pieces of a false door from the tomb of Hetepka and a bronze figure of the falcon god Horus, but was cleared on a third charge of handling pieces of a false door from the complex of King Pepi. He had previously been sentenced in his absence to 15 years hard labour by an Egyptian court. Tokeley-Parry had shown a courier how to coat objects in plastic which could then be painted over to disguise them as tourist trinkets, allowing them to pass through Egyptian customs undetected. The plastic and paint were removed with acetone once the smuggled artefacts were in England. The jury was shown photographs of a damaged head of Amenhotep III, 'restored' by Tokeley-Parry who had arranged to sell it for £850,000 to New York dealer Fred Schulz. In his defence Tokeley-Parry claimed to have bought the objects in Switzerland and Germany, emphasising again the central role that these countries play in the illicit trade. This role is set to diminish, however, as the Swiss government is in the process of ratifying both the UNESCO and Unidroit conventions. In protest Ruedi Staechelin has withdrawn his family's collection of modern art from museums in Basel and Geneva and loaned it instead for three years to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Some of the looted Nineveh reliefs reported in this issue have surfaced in Britain. Dr Prudence Harper of the Metropolitan Museum was sent a photograph of a piece from the palace of Tiglath-Pileser III by the London dealer Mr Robin Symes. The situation in Afghanistan is a continuing cause for concern. The colossal figure of Buddha in Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley was threatened by the Taliban commander Abdul Wahid who said that his troops would destroy it if they broke into the area. The Taliban government denied this threat but the present position is unclear. On a more positive note the Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage (SPACH) has recently recovered a number of antiquities which had been looted from Kabul Museum. They include six plaster medallions from the Begram Treasure and two stone seals of Bronze Age date from Shortugai. Italian police have recently charged Franco Zanetti with selling stolen antiquities from an Internet site. Zanetti was offering artefacts from sites in Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon as well as from sites in Italy. Finally there is a strange report of a bag packed with Egyptian antiquities found at the Unclaimed Baggage Center of Scotsboro, Alabama. The Center deals in baggage which remains unclaimed at airports throughout the United States. First posted October 1998; Page design updated September 2006 |
