G.I.'s family returns World War II antiquities to Italy

Antiques lifted from an Italian church by a G.I. during World War II, were returned in a ceremony at the Italian Embassy, the latest in a call for aging veterans and their families to repatriate such "souvenirs" of the war. In 1944, Irving Tross of Chicago, now 96,  was a radio operator with the U.S. Army's 88th Infantry Division. The soldiers came across  170 crates of cultural property hidden by the University of Naples library during the Invasion of Italy, inside a church that was damaged by shelling and some of them it seems helped themselves to some of what they found. Mr Tross was troubled by his conscience however which led to yesterday's ceremony. The return

represents the latest efforts of the Monuments Men Foundation, a group set to become more famous this year with the release of the upcoming movie, The Monuments Men, starring and directed by George Clooney. The film will highlight efforts spearheaded by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, acting as allied commander, in a 1943 order that required all military personnel to safeguard cultural treasures. The order created the Monuments Men, formally the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, some 345 men and women, curators, librarians, historians and artists, who raced around Europe in the last years of World War II, until 1951, seeking the return of looted artwork and antiquities. [...] Ironically, the United States only formally ratified a 1954 international treaty built around Eisenhower's orders in 2008, says antiquities law expert Patty Gerstenblith of DePaul University in Chicago. Eisenhower's elevation of protecting cultural artifacts into a military priority was a far-sighted change to the rules of war, she says. "I think it is a fair question to ask if we are doing as good a job now as we did then," Gerstenblith says.

There is also a book out, by Robert Edsel, "Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis". The recent ceremony, however, is a reminder that it was not just "the Nazis" who were pinching stuff, as happens everywhere, many people took advantage of the chaos of conflict to enrich themselves.

Dan Vergano,  G.I.'s family returns World War II antiquities to Italy USAToday May 29, 2013.

Greek Antiquities Excavated during Second World War Repatriated from Germany

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In June, Germany's Pfahlbaumuseum will return to Greece 8,000 pottery fragments excavated from Thessaly during the Second World War. The material is Neolithic in date and was excavated in 1941 near Velestino, Thessaly.

The ministry's general directorate for antiquities is collecting data for all antiquities illegally removed from Greece during the German occupation. The repatriation of Greek cultural artefacts is among Greece's demands for German reparations from World War II, according to the foreign ministry. The two ministries are working together on the formation of an international cooperation network through the signing of bilateral agreements for the protection of cultural goods and the prevention of artefact trafficking. Greece has already signed agreements with Switzerland, China, the US and Turkey and negotiations are ongoing with several other countries for the signing of similar agreements. 

'Thousands of Greek antiquities repatriated from Germany', EnetEnglish.gr, Wednesday 29 May 2013.

Koh Ker fragments in US Collections

The New York Times has an article which is the follow-up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s recent decision to return two statues to Cambodia (Tom Masberg, 'Cambodia Presses U.S. Museums to Relinquish Antiquities', New York Times May 15, 2013).  This refers to the several other US museums that own works believed to have been taken from the same 10th-century Khmer temple, Prasat Chen, part of the archaeological site Koh Ker. It shows that at least six of the looted works ended up in the United States. Among them are the figures at the Metropolitan Museum, and the one in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, and the one being contested with its Belgian owner (Decia Ruspoli di Poggio Suasa after she shipped it to Sotheby's in the US to flog off). In addition to these, Cambodia says the Denver Art Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art also have material illicitly taken from this temple. There is an excellent presentation here -  From Jungle to Museum and Back? which puts the known statues in the context of the site itself and the plan of the temple. It gives the date of acquisition of the items in US museums ("acquired in four pieces 1987-92", "acquired 1980", "acquired 1982", "acquired 1986"). If we assume that they were looted at the same time as those presently contested (ie c. 1970/71) it raises the issue that several of them must have passed through some private collection or other after dismemberment. 

Here are several other "Koh Ker style" objects at the Cleveland Museum,  note in particular the:
"Head of a Deity or a Deified King, 928-941 Cambodia, Style of Koh Ker, Reign of Jayavarman IV, 928-941 gray sandstone, Overall - h:37.40 cm (h:14 11/16 inches). Dudley P. Allen Fund 1923".95"
thus dating back to 1920s. So how did this leave the jungle site? Who removed it? How did it get to Cleveland? 

Some Germans and the Rest of the World

Dorothy King, in a discussion on German attitudes to other nations ('German Propaganda Continues ...', Monday, April 29, 2013), on the recent article [Archaeology strains German-Turkish relations | Europe | DW.DE | 27.04.2013] suggests:

I think that the 'best' possible interpretation of all this 'Germany Know Best' anti-Turkish propaganda is that the Germans are bloody arrogant. Since this German superiority is often directed at people who are not as Aryan as they are, the term racist springs to mind. I don't think this represents the views of all Germans  [...]  according yet again to Hermann Parzinger, who keeps making these claims (see here) when the Turkish Ministry of Culture refuse to behave like good little children and do what he says. [...]  I have no problem with Turkey's new approach to cultural property (here), because it is an autonomous country (and not part of Großdeutschland).

Stop Britain's Possession of the Looted Parthenon Scultpures !

"Let the world protest and shout that the Parthenon Marbles belong to Greece and that it is time for the Houses of Lords and the Commons to immediately pass a law for their return if a shred of decency is to be left behind in this whole shameful affair. The Greeks have engaged in endless rounds of civilised dialogue, sent delegations and ministers to Britain and attempted to find a chink of humanity in the stony and arrogant hearts of the British Museum's administrators and in the corridors of Whitehall - in vain. The time for dialogue is over, as it was one day for British colonialism"

 Stop Britain's Possession of the Looted Parthenon Scultpures !

Bronze Heads to return to China

The two bronze heads from the Qing dynasty looted in the nineteenth century have become a cause celebre for Chinese nationalists seeking their return from the attempted sale of the YSL collection in France (when the buyer refused to pay for them). On Friday the billionaire owner of Christie’s auction house said he would hand the rat and rabbit heads back.

Scheherazade Daneshkhu, 'Pinault family offers to return bronze heads to China', Financial Times April 26, 2013

Crowbars out, Looting Pays

The carved granite temple step (Sandakada pahana) step is a feature unique to Sinhalese architecture in Sri Lanka. This 1,000 year old pre-Hindu stone step is similar to those found in the ancient city of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, and is one of only seven examples known to date from this period, the other six being in situ. The massively heavy – three-quarters of a tonne stone measure eight ft by four foot and is six inches thick, but nevertheless was carted off by a colonial looter to England:

There was a battle between buyers in the room and on the telephone for this remarkable find which finally sold for £553,250 against a pre-sale estimate of £20,000 to £30,000. There were no fewer than eight telephone bidders and three in the saleroom [...] The Devon based owners, Mike and Bronwyn Hickmott, commented after the sale: "We are overwhelmed with the price achieved. It goes beyond all our expectations." Mrs Hickmott added: "I'd like to say a special thank you to Sam Tuke of Bonhams Exeter office. We had been turned away by other international auction houses as well as television antiques shows. Everyone pooh-poohed our belief that the stone was special. It was only Sam's determination to research the stone that has led to this happy result. We are thrilled."

Of course the idea that this knocked-off piece of an architectural monument from the other side of the world should be in neither a Devon garden or a London showroom presumably never occurred to the thrilled sellers (it said "property of a lady" in the catalogue). I expect the price obtained means that a few more bits of Anuradhapura will now be "surfacing" on the market with nice-sounding provenances before long. "Bonhams said it was unable to disclose who the new owner of the artefact was" what's the betting that it is NOT the people of Sri Lanka?

Bonhams Press Release: 'Rare Buddhist Andradhapura period (377 BC-1017 AD) Indian (sic) Carved Stone Temple Step Discovered in Devon Garden Sells for £553,250', 23 Apr 2013. BBC News, 'Devon garden Sri Lankan artefact sells for £550,000', 24 April 2013.