Trafficking in Antiquities—Boston Museum of Fine Arts

When Italian authorities accused Los Angeles’s J. Paul Getty Museum of displaying artifacts which were allegedly stolen from Italy, perhaps no one foresaw just how roiled the art world would become. As the Italian prosecution of the Getty Museum’s gets into gear, allegations have just been made that the Boston Museum of Fine Arts [hereinafter MFA] may have stolen Italian artifacts as well.^[1] Italian authorities have listed 22 artifacts at the MFA which they claim have been stolen, including a 2,500 year-old Greek vase currently on display at the museum.^[2]

While the MFA’s spokeswoman says that the museum has not yet been contacted by the Italians, and does its own provenance research on its collection, some antiquities experts are saying that “[i]f the Italians are making this very concerted effort to make claims on the Getty, it seems likely they’ll do so with the other museums.”^[3] Furthermore, one of the dealers about to go on trial in Italy, Robert E. Hecht, Jr., sold the Greek vase in question to the MFA, along with other works.^[4] According to the MFA, the vase is listed as being owned in 1972 by a Swiss furniture dealer before being acquired by Mr. Hecht in 1973; there is no prior history.^[5]

In addition to 22 pieces of art in Boston’s MFA, Italians have pointed to eight pieces in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, one in the Princeton University Art Museum, and one in the Cleveland Museum of Art.^[6]

The accusations all come from nearly a 1,000 Polaroid photographs that depict how Greek pottery and Roman statues looted from 2,000-year-old tombs in Italy made their way to the United States; at the end of the journey, Giacomo Medici—who was convicted in Italy last year—and Mr. Hecht pose in front of museum cases displaying the relics.^[7]

In addition to Italy, the secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, is preparing legal cases against museums and scholars who handle looted objects.^[8] Mr. Hawass takes the cause of preserving Egypt’s cultural heritage so seriously that he has banned academics and institutions that cooperate with antiquities dealers from the country.^[9]

We have been following the controversy surrounding the Getty Museum for some time now, most recently here.

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[1] Geoff Edgers, Italian Authorities Said to Have Evidence of Looted Works at MFA, Boston Globe, Nov. 1, 2005, available here.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Tomb-Robbing Trials Name Getty, Metropolitan, Princeton Museums, Bloomberg, Oct. 31, 2005, available here.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.